Play offers medieval experience

U OF L STUDENTS BRING TO LIFE ‘A BARNE IN BEDLAM’

Live drama, 500 years ago, didn’t offer a great number of options. But in northern England, there was a cycle of up to 32 “mystery plays” based loosely on stories in the Bible.

Not many of them are performed today. But drama students at the University of Lethbridge have taken on one of those stories — and then created a modern-day alternative.

The result is “A Barne in Bedlam: Two Approaches to Medieval Plays.” It’s scheduled for Tuesday through Saturday in the David Spinks Theatre.

Known as the Wakefield Mystery Plays, they were staged about the time of the Catholic feast of Corpus Cristi, in areas around historic York. One of the 32, “The Second Shepherd” has been described as one of the jewels of medieval theatre.

It’s a highly satirical version of the Nativity story, with a couple hiding a lamb in the cradle and pretending it’s their child. “We have created a world on stage which blends beauty with grotesque, and myth with life,” says “Second Shepherd” director Gabrielle Houle.

“The themes of the play draw from the humour of everyday life,” she adds. “The acting style is larger than life and highly physical.”

True to life 500 years ago, directors say audience members will see it all up-close.

“It will be standing room only for a portion of the plays, an authentically medieval and barrier-free experience between actor and audience.”

For the students, says performer Kaitlyn Olfert, part of the challenge was trying to understand the language as spoken that long ago. Faculty member Justin Blum provided a translation, she added.

A bigger challenge was creating the second piece, “The Rise and Fall of Adam and Eve.”

“We have taken the themes of the story ... starting from the medieval text, and have devised a play that complements the original story,” says Blum, its dramaturge.

“We’re telling the story from a different perspective,” explains director Mia van Leeuwen.

It includes audio and video clips, improv scenes — and a kind of Last Supper.

True to today, it also includes world languages sometimes spoken in Lethbridge. “Adam,” played by Oluseyi Dada, presents a monologue in his native Yoruba tongue.

“It makes me feel more connected with the story,” he says. “Eve” responds in Roumanian. Both shows are highly physical, says graduating drama student Jordan Payne. If the language is baffling, the meaning is not.

Van Leeuwen says putting the two together — using the same cast of 10 — has added to the energy.

“It’s like a theatre history lesson,” she laughs.

“A Barne in Bedlam” opens at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday in the David Spinks Theatre, Level 4 of the fine arts building, and continues nightly through Saturday. Tickets are available online at