Yale Bulletin and Calendar

November 22-December 6, 1999

Volume 28, Number 14

Miracle play reveals medieval
views about St. Nicholas

The image of St. Nicholas as a jolly fat man with a bag full of gifts will get an overhaul on his name day -- Monday, Dec. 6 -- when Yale students perform a medieval miracle play dedicated to the mythical figure who inspired the modern-day image of Santa Claus.

"Play of the Burgher's Son" will be presented at 5:15 p.m. at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, corner of Wall and High streets. The public is invited to attend.

In the Middle Ages, St. Nicholas was revered as the patron saint of children and clerics, and it was believed that he had been a bishop in Asia Minor during the fourth century. The historical authenticity of St. Nicholas has since come into question, and the Vatican has removed his name from the roster of saints.

The play to be performed at the Beinecke Library comes from a 14th-century French manuscript comprising a cycle of eight miracle plays, all of them celebrating the life and posthumous wonders of the saint.

The manuscript itself was donated to the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library last year by actor Bronson Pinchot (Yale '81). An avid rare-book collector, Pinchot is best known for his role as Cousin Balki in the television series "Perfect Strangers." The St. Nicholas manuscript will be on display at the Beinecke Library throughout the month of December.

The text of the play is in a hybrid of Provencale and Old French, which was the common vernacular for Provence in the late 14th and early 15th centuries, and the stage directions are in Latin. The entire manuscript is bound in a vellum wallet-size wrapper, making it a prototype of the modern paperback book.

"It was probably a director's script," explains Yale graduate student Elisa Mader, who transcribed and then translated the original play into English. During the Middle Ages, she says, it was common for small troupes of actors to perform miracle plays in the center of a town or village, much in the fashion of street theater today. In keeping with that spirit, "Play of the Burgher's Son" will be staged at the entrance to the Beinecke Library, so spectators can view the action from the mezzanine.

The 20-minute, one-act play describes how a University student is kidnapped by pagan soldiers, held captive by an infidel sultan, and eventually returned to his father through the miraculous intercession of St. Nicholas.

Three Yale students -- Samuel Carner, Laura Williams and Chimene Bateman -- rendered Mader's translation into verse. Graduate and undergraduate students collaborated on every aspect of the production, from the music to the dancing, direction and acting. Refreshments will be served.

Prior to the play, at 4 p.m., there will be two talks on
St. Nicholas. Mader will discuss "St. Nicholas in Manuscript 841," while Lee Patterson, the Frederick W. Hilles Professor of English and chair of medieval studies, will speak on "St. Nicholas in the 'Fleury Playbook.'" These talks are also open to the public.

-- By Dorie Baker

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