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I think there is a good discussion of some of these points in the modern edition of Thomas Chobham's penitencial, which was written for an English audience, but grows out of the reformist movement immediately prior to Latern IV which centred around some of the early Paris masters like Peter the Chanter. The feeling about performers, especially those which were seen as being like those on the ancient stage, seems to be based in part on patristic and canonical writings which was a reaction to the ancient stage, like conciliar decrees from the 6th or 7th centuries which were based on some of Augustine's writings. Other good places to start reading are JW Baldwin's excellent study _Masters, Princes, and Merchants: Peter the Chanter and his circle_, which devotes a lot of time to their attitudes towards various forms of entertainment, and Mary Marshall's seminal article on the meaning of the word 'theatrum' in late ancient and mediaeval Latin authors (printed in _Symposium_, v 3, pp 1-39 and 366-89). Larry is kind enough to mention my articles on terminology in REEDN, but I don't really think they deal with this question. However, I am hoping to put something together in the not too distant future about canonical condemnations of various REED activities, such as plays or misrule, and I hope at that time really to deal with questions like what and whom the canonists and penetential writers meant to condemn and why. The English conciliar and synodial statutes on these topics are closely inter-connected and also much influenced by the canon law and thinking of the wider church. A.