Lectures - Comedy in the Dark Ages: Hrotsvitha

The art of the theater died out in the West with the fall of the Roman Empire. But in the unlikely setting of Germany in the 10th century, a remarkable woman revived both comedy and drama. Hrotsvitha of Gandersheim was a secular canoness (a member of a religious community living a monastic life) who read the ancient Roman playwrights Plautus and Terrance and used them as models for her own plays. Produced for the edification and entertainment of her fellow sisters, Hrotsvitha's comedies featured the exploits of saintly heroines humiliating their lecherous pagan captors. John Hamer of Toronto Centre Palce read from Hrotsvitha's work (some of the humor is still funny today!) and look at her context and legacy.