中世紀劇場的領域

歐洲中世紀劇場是由龐雜多元的表演形式所組成，因此不管在定義上、標示上、歷史定位上、或理論歸納上，都有著難以克服的困難。然而，若我們檢視「中世紀劇場」賴以建立的史料編纂過程，卻很可能有所收穫。這個過程的特色在於兩項理論上的突破，尤其它挑戰了西方劇場的「亞里斯多德典範」標準：第一、它將中世紀劇場納入歷史演化進程的一部分，第二、它重新定義劇場，視其為表演活動，而不是文學文本。儘管演化論之說為多數人所駁斥，另一個事實上更重要的概念－將戲劇視為活動（event）－卻由此而生。（這個概念比起號稱「文學」傑作如雲的積域，更容易為人所接受。）不過，這些實證論者的推論固然還影響現今戲劇的研究，卻容易落入另一種危險－即再次將嚴格定義的戲劇框架套用在中世紀的表演形式上。比較好的作法，是將標準放寬，以共時性（synchronic）的角度研究中世紀時期的劇場（medieval theatre），也以歷時性（diachronic）的角度觀照劇場史的中世紀（medieval theatre）。

關鍵字

中世紀劇場；劇場史；中古世紀；表演；宗教劇

並列摘要

Even beyond the obvious cultural and linguistic barriers－which are Formidable－the medieval theatre of Europe suffers from several drawbacks specific to students of the theatre: The occasional nature of most performances provides few realizable models for modem productions. Most of the surviving dramatic texts are of little, if any, literary value. The medieval theatre has proved difficult to slot into the standard narrative of Western theatrical history. Above all, this vast, unruly field has for the most part been left to specialists who are able to illuminate parts of the picture, but often do so at the expense of the whole. In fact, we have difficulties establishing exactly what the ”whole” is. What does the field of medieval theatre consist of and how are we to go about studying it? What are we to teach, and how are we to go about teaching it? If we believe that the field is objectively there, waiting to be examined and described, we would do well to begin by learning a dozen or so European languages, familiarizing ourselves with a seemingly endless number of performance forms, immersing ourselves in theology, heraldry, art, music and dance, and mastering the economic, social, political, and intellectual life of Europe between 500 and 1500. If, on the other hand, we conceive of the ”field” of medieval theatre as an historiographical phenomenon that has been emerging in theatre studies over the past one hundred years or so, we might be able to make of a constructed ”medieval theatre” a useful paradigm for an evolving general theory of the theatre, and at the same time find a way to incorporate medieval performance into a larger historical narrative. I propose in the present paper to outline some of the ways in which the historiography of the medieval theatre has functioned as such a paradigm, and to suggest ways in which a more open and tentative conception of ”field” can stimulate fruitful theoretical speculation.