Recycling the Cycle

By David Mills

A consciousness of the past has been an essential determinant of community in the city of Chester, England. This awareness and fascination has been bolstered by a strong civic tradition of drama. In particular, the city's Whitsun Plays have been a vehicle for communicating the myth of the city's medieval heritage, helping to reinforce the sense of history that is part of Chester's identity.

Building up the material in REED: Chester, David Mills has produced a detailed study of Chester's Whitsun Plays in their local, physical, social, political, cultural, and religious context. A continuum has survived between the Middle Ages and the present day, providing not only an understanding of the plays themselves, but a narrative of the ways in which manuscripts survive and the functions that they serve. The continued performance of these plays is significant of modern play revivals as a political and sociological phenomenon, demonstrating the power that these rituals and plays still hold.

>Recycling the Cycle is not only a look at how medieval and Renaissance cultural traditions developed and were maintained over centuries, but an insight into how those traditions can stay fresh and relevant, even today.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1487576870
• ISBN13: 9781487576875
• Release Date: December 1998
• Publisher: University of Toronto Press
• Length: 296 Pages
• Weight: 0.92 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.1" x 9.2"
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher