The annual Medieval English Theatre 2024 conference and meeting is taking place on Saturday 6 April 2024 at Newcastle University in Newcastle Upon Tyne.
All are welcome. 

The topic is 'Dramatic Margins'.

In some medieval manuscripts texts are surrounded by rich decoration that enhances their prestige; in others texts seem curiously juxtaposed with comical or grotesque figures that riot in their margins. The margins of medieval play texts may include paratexts like stage directions, that offer clues as to how plays were performed, or more philosophical or theological notes that indicate how plays were read. At a more conceptual level, at the margins of what we term ‘medieval theatre’ are various para-dramatic activities including rituals and processions, calendar customs, and festive games. The participants in dramatic and para-dramatic activities were sometimes mainstream and sometimes on the margins of society.  And at a professional level, the study or teaching of medieval theatre may increasingly seem like a marginal activity in many university departments and in the English syllabus. 

Margins may be spaces of disempowerment, but may also be spaces of freedom.  Margins can be found represented in critical theory / research frameworks / approaches and lenses, and can push or question or reevaluate boundaries of different kinds. What is the relationship between the marginal and the mainstream, the marginalia and the main text? 

Registration has opened, and there is an optional evening meal the night before.