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WOMAN playing Noah's wife? Meg Professor Emeritus of English Medieval Studies, Department of English and Creative Writing, Lancaster University, LANCASTER LA1 4YD ________________________________ From: REED-L: Records of Early English Drama Discussion <[log in to unmask]> on behalf of Alan Baragona <[log in to unmask]> Sent: 11 March 2020 02:51 To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]> Subject: [External] Modern play about medieval troupe performing Noah This email originated outside the University. Check before clicking links or attachments. Today’s print version of The Washington Post has a review of a play by Jordan Harrison call The Amateurs, which premiered in 2018. It's about a traveling troupe of medieval players who are performing a Noah play in a time of plague, especially focusing on the woman who is playing Noah's wife. Do any of you know of it? First I've heard of the play or of the playwright. It sounds a bit reminiscent of the players in The Seventh Seal, and I'm a little surprised the review doesn't mention it. In earlier years, my wife and I would have jumped on I-81 and gone up to D.C. to see it, but between the coronavirus and other things, there's no way we can get there before it closes on April 5. But I just like knowing this play exists, and I've preordered the volume of Harrison's plays that is coming out in July and will include it. I don’t know that the Noah play being performed by the troupe is the Wakefield Master’s Noah or, more likely given the opening as described in the review, is loosely based on it, but if either is the case, it makes a nice irony that the actor who plays the character who plays the wife is named “Townley,” just one <e> off! For those of you who subscribe to the Post but may have missed the review, here is the link. https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/theater_dance/coronavirus-looms-over-this-play-set-during-a-plague-but-the-amateurs-speaks-to-timeless-concerns/2020/03/09/b06229a2-620f-11ea-acca-80c22bbee96f_story.html<https://eur02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.washingtonpost.com%2Fentertainment%2Ftheater_dance%2Fcoronavirus-looms-over-this-play-set-during-a-plague-but-the-amateurs-speaks-to-timeless-concerns%2F2020%2F03%2F09%2Fb06229a2-620f-11ea-acca-80c22bbee96f_story.html&data=02%7C01%7Cm.twycross%40lancaster.ac.uk%7C1533b90b85774451fac808d7c567369a%7C9c9bcd11977a4e9ca9a0bc734090164a%7C1%7C1%7C637194919419841278&sdata=Wa6kyVg47IkAGswszgYvYZoz3CbI02W3dRDWKsWrE2g%3D&reserved=0> Alan Baragona