Paae SiX
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
.turday, August 6, 19?77
PaoeSixTHE ICHGANDAIL itrdo ,,ugust6, 197
Medieva merriment
By SUSAN BARRY
"HOW COUDE I DAUNCE to an
harpe smale, and singe, ywis, as
any nightingale whan I had dronke
a draught of swete wyn." These
are the words of the Wife of Bath
from Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.
And were the merry Wife to visit
the Ann Arbor campus this week-
end she would surely have a chance
to indulge her passions in the true
fourteenth century tradition.
This Saturday and Sunday from
10 a.m. to dusk on the rolling lawns
of the Music School on North Cam-
pus, the Ann Arbor Medieval Festi-
val will be bringing the Middle
Ages back to life. Craftsmen, sing-
ers, dancers, pupeteers, actors,
clowns, and many others will be on
hand for this weekend full of art,
S
The
the creation of special classes,.
within the music school offered in
the summer, for the preparation of
performances in the Festival.
DENIS STEVENS AND Matthew
Steel are the coordinators of the
music portion of the program. Steel
explained that the Collegium Musi-
cum sought to provide the flavor of
early music rather than striving for
the authentic sound. He described
the repetoire as a series of "bit hits,
of the Middle Ages and Renais-
sance, as edited by Denis Stevens.'
Although the courses are offered
through the Music School, half of
the people involved in the Colle-
gium are non-music majors. And it
is emphasized that half of the peo-
ple involved in the Festival itself
are not enrolled in the University.
According to Heidi Gottfried, the
Festival has become "something ev-
eryone feels is a permanent part of
Ann Arbor culture."
Several community organizations
have actually evolved as a result of
the interest of the participants in
the successive years. One addition,
the Morris dancers, are now a soci-
ety that formed as the result of
last year's festival. And many new
performers are culled from the au-
diences of previous years.
There is also room, within the re-
petoire for original expression. Two
of the plays to be performed were
contributed by local writers Ed
Grinnan and Dennis Foon.
ONE OF THEM, entitled "Hoo-
pert the Profane," is about parsim-
onious landlords and has a distinc-
tive Ann Arbor influence. This play
was described as "an original sa-
tire cast in a medieval mold." The
costumes and style of the play are
from the Middle Ages but the
theme is purposely timely. Another
play is adapted from Bocaccio's
Decameron.
The other two plays to be per-
formed are The Creation from the
Wakefield Mystery Cycle and a
fourteentn ce ntury French Moral-
ity play entitled The Expectant Ab-
bess.
In addition to the drama there
are two dance companies. One is
the Morris Dance Company and the
other performs Court dances.
music, magic, and general merry-
making.-
THE ANN ARBOR Medieval Fes-}
tival began in 1969 when a group of
Medieval scholars, some involved
with the University and othersy
from the community, gathered with
the intention of recreating the spi-
rit of the Middle Ages. Performers
of music and drama toured the lo-.
cal parks and an interest was kind-
led in continuing and expanding
the project for the following year.
The Music School decided to join
the society and soon the craftsmen,
became involved. As interest con-
tinues, according to Heidi Gott-
fried, "each year we add something
else," The additions this year in-
elude a Punch and Judy show and
an itinerant monk, who wanders>
through the crowd delivering ser-
mons.
The t r a d i t i o n established
through the years has even led to
vLov ro DV CHRIS DINA CNEIDEL
THE COLLEGIUM Musicum pro-
vides early chamber music for sing-
ers and instrumentalists as well as
Medieval and Renaissance music,
An ensemble billing themselves as
"The Broken Consort" will also
perform.
An art fair is planned for the
area surrounding the stage where
craftsmen will be at work and, ac-
cording to Gottfried, people can
walk through and talk to different
artists."
Between and during the various
performances an Intermezzi troupe
wil. be in attendance. The troupe
consists of jugglers, fools, wizards,
knights, fencers, and P.D.Q. Bach
singers.
The lawn of the music school, ex-
plains Gottfried, "is a perfect set-
ting for drama. It's a natural audi-
torium with a stage in the valley
and room on the hill for an audi-
ence." Banners will decorate the
site and a general atmosphere of
medieval festivity w i11 be main-
tained. For this reason those who
attend are welcome to dress for the
occasion. It promises to be a merry
time for all.
Susan Barry frequently re-
views .concerts and stage plays
for the Daily's Arts Page.
Daily Photo by CHRISTINA SCHNEIDER
Friedan &
By MARNIE HEYN
It Changed My Life by
Betty Friedan, Random
House (New York, 1976),
388 pages, $10 (recently
remaindered)
Going Too Far by Robin
Morgan. Random House
(New York, 1977), 333
pages, $10 ,
OLD FRIENDS. Random
douse has pulled a coup of
sorts (or a cuckoo, or per-
haps a counter-coup). They
contracted with.. both Bet-
ty Friedan and Robin Mor-
gan to produce books with
ioentical formats and, it
may be argued, identical
contents, during the same
fiscal year.
I suspect that these two
books are part of the mar-
keting serif
cindes memt
raphies (gh(
wise) of sile
scnnel. Ran
tying tc ca
they considi
the Women's
za,. As the
goodbye to a
But these
friends. Morj
an have beep
mind 2nd
sense of self
the people
tcothbrush
during the x
so. Severalt
in these vol
sponsible fc
me I had a
and then ga
Morgan: 20-20 hindsight
es which . in- portunity to hone my mind mat for these books is due i m p e d e getting anything
aires and biog- wnile all about me were a mild post facto scolding. done.
osted or other- saying "Women can't write in general the articles de- FRIEDAN h a s collected
nt movies per- REAL literature" and "So- serve to be anthologized her writings of the last 13
dom House is cialism must come first" along with some selective years in five sections with
sh in on what and "But WHY don't you c o m m e n t a r y (al- rather stuffy subtitles. In
er the end of want to get married and though Morgan's diary en- t he first, "Consciousness,"
s Book Bonan- teach nursery school?" tries and sillier leaflets she recaps the social myths
saying goes, I OWE THESE PEOPLE and Friedan's s 1 e e p y about women during the era
ll that. ' a lo't. And, since most of speeches and more repeti- ,of McCarthy the First, and
are really old my original copies of the tive McCall's columns de- responds to letters she re-
gan and Fried- articles got lost being serve merciful oblivion In- ceived after the publication
n closer to my passed around the grape- oead)f The Feminine Mystique.
feelings anld vine back in the Golden And~ I, for one, would be ipressive; t is disquaeting
than most of Dacade (back .when most gad to have both hard- that Friedan orders them to
I've shared boks about women had headed historical accounts prove that what all women
holders with nervous ladies in long ruf- of the feminist renais- want (in a d d i t #o n to a
past decade or fled dresses on paperback sance and cleareyed per- "normal" family, of cpurse)
of the articles covers), I am glad to have sonal recollections f r o m Is a graduate degree and a
umes were re- copies again. But .I wish it Friedan and Morgan. When professional career. She ig-
or convincing were some way other than any of t h a t happens, it nores the insistent sugges-
mind, after all, this. happens in flashes; multi- tions from r e a d e r s and
ve me the op- Whoever devised the for- plicity of function seems to See FEMINIST, Page 7