francisc performance.pdf

Franciscan Performance: A Theatre Lost and Found Again

Author(s): Antonio Attisani and Jane House

Source: PAJ: A Journal of Performance and Art, Vol. 25, No. 1 (Jan., 2003), pp. 48-60

Published by: The MIT Press on behalf of the Performing Arts Journal, Inc.

Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3246524

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FRANCISCAN PERFORMANCE

A TheatreLost and Found Again

Antonio Attisani

Translated by Jane House

EDITORS'NOTE:This essay

is partof an ongoingPAJ serieson 'Art, Spirituality,

and

in whichwe plan to explore artworksandart practicescirculating aroundthis

theme.The digitalperformance

text, The Birthof the Christ Child, also appearing

tothe subject, asisKarenWilkinsessayonPat Lipskys new

work.Theserieswasinitiatedin PAJ 72 (2002) with publication of 'Artas Spiritual

Practice, "a panel discussion

featuring MeredithMonk,AlisonKnowles,ErikEhn,Linda

Montano,Eleanor Heartney, and moderated by BonnieMarranca,heldat the SoHo

gallery, Location One, in November2001.

significar per verbanonsi poria . . .

(Passing beyond the human cannot be worded ...)

-Dante, Paradiso,I, 70-71, translated by Allen Mandelbaum

Trasumanar

If Francis of Assisi (1181-1226) had been considered as the initiator of modern

theatre and not just as an eccentric saint, Western theatre would never have

been the same. He would have started a completely different performing

tradition. What I wish to outline here is not the story of that "if," but simply the

Franciscan idea of theatre, or, rather, of performance. Franciscan theatricality does

not consist of the illustration of an ideological statement (a concept or a text, that is,

a discourse), nor can it be reduced to the simplicity of the exempla. In other words,

it has nothing to do with representation, the foundation of Western post-Renaissance

theatre. His theatricality consists of an incredible variety of poetic actionswith the

purpose of creating a communal experience of transformation. His theatricality is

essentially ecstatic, as actors and spectators have an intimate comprehension of a

religious event, or experience a state of peaceful pleasure. However, one has to

acknowledge that the transformation is obtained through the activation of the senses

and the creation of an aesthetic structure, that is, the creation of form. Another

important issue to point out is that the participants in this theatre do not experience

or conceptualize the event to the same degree but, rather,each has his or her own

unique experience, taking part in the event as one "character" among others.

48 * PAJ 73 (2003), pp. 48-60.

? 2003 Performing Arts Journal, Inc.

Religion"

thisissue,isanother approach

One of the purposes of this essay is to suggest that although Francis's conception of

"theatre"was neglected through the passage of time, it nevertheless remained fertile

ground for Western theatre and reappeared with some force in the twentieth-century

avant-garde, which fought, as we know, against recitation and representation. Thus,

I am led to consider Franciscan performance as fundamental to Western culture,

although it is still largely unknown and undervalued as such, and to contemplate a

Francis who is far removed from the popular view of him as patron saint of pan-

ecological protest movements.

the Franciscan Weltanschuaungwasbeyond comprehension. And even

if Francesco di Bernardone, as he was also known, had described himself and his

brethren as "actors"rather than "jongleurs of God" (joculatores Domini),1 it would

not have altered the fact of his censure and his subsequent canonization by the

Roman Catholic church-or the fact that his Cantico delle creature (Canticle of

Creatures) is now considered one of the precursors of vernacularliterature.

Nor is it likely that this revised description would have influenced the work of

scholars. In our own time, loan P.Couliano in his SpiritualJourneys, a brilliant study

of ecstatic methods and their shamanistic roots throughout the world, never

mentioned Francis because he did not leave behind any texts that addressed such

topics.2 While Erich Auerbach did include him in his tract on realism in Western

literature, he limited his comments to Francis's scanty writings.3 And Ivan Illich4

wrote on "layalphabetization" and "religiousalphabetization," medieval Europe and

modernity, the birth of the publishing industry, and of reading, without taking into

consideration the Franciscancontribution.

Francis was not concerned with the written word; he conceived of life, his own as

well as that of the good Christian and in primis that of the brethren, as a

"revolutionaryperformance," in other words, as an action that changes the lives of

the participants in a manner that re-actualizesthe behavior of Jesus Christ and his

idea of community. There were a few scholars who recognized the primary place of

performance in his life. For instance, Auerbach stated clearly that, "everything he did

was a scene. And his scenes were of such power that he carried away with him all

who saw them or only heard of them."5 However, most scholars have ignored the

originality of the theatrical elements in these "scenes." They emphasize, rather,that

Francis attempted to represent Jesus Christ, that is, duplicate the images of his life,

ratherthan emphasizing that he wanted to realizehere and now the same principles,

which is not the same thing. From the thirteenth century onwards, artworks were no

longer created by anonymous artists, and authors become more and more impor-

tant. For Francis, performance was a way of being that transformed reality; whereas

the new authored form of performance became the "acting as," the representation-

illustration of some texts, or ideas-a fictional mode requiring its own specialists

and professionals.

ATTISANI / Franciscan Performance M 49

Since Western civilization based its construction of modernity and the societe

disciplinaire (Michel Foucault) on the conspicuous duality of the text and its

representation,

true legacy can be explained, at leastin part,

by the view that theatreis somethingapart from history,having its own narrative.

When consideredat all, Francis'sworkis only seenasevidenceof a theatricality

that

came to its maturity in the Renaissancetheatre.One of the few exceptions is the

scholarChiara Frugoni who, in commendablytaking up the theme of Francis's

censurein orthodox ecclesiasticalworks, describes how-beginning in his own

day-angry censors attempted to underminehis teachings, how he escapedthem,

andhowhisworksurvivedas"non-text."Sheaffirms the centralroleof performance

behaviorin Franciscanwork and explains how the most significantaspects of this

theatricalform are incompatible with the values and behavioralmodels of the

Churchand of judicialpower.7

the rich

typology of Franciscan performances and to note their underlying similarities:

to eatfroma table

ladenwith white napkins and glasses ratherthanfromseated positions on the floor,

Francis pretended to be a pilgrim. After humblyasking forsome food, he saton the

flooraloneand put his cup on the ashes, thus demonstrating the proper way for a

FriarMinor to eat.8In this way, he overcamethe apparentimpotence of wordsto

affirmthe humblenessof the tableand showed,by making them believehim to be

someone else before they recognized him, how the humble should behave.His

objective was not only to set an example but also to lend to the image of proper

behaviorthe power of allegory and thus make somethingimmutably understood.

The purpose of the actionand the energyexpended on it seem typical of a simple

initiationrite,wherethe comprehension of a principle is physically transmitted.

thatthe brotherswere preparing

effect in two areas-first with

regard to the wealth of a Church to which the FriarMinorswishedto belong but

which they criticizedfor behaviorthatwasat oddswith their evangelicalteachings,

and second, with regard to Francis'sown reputation for saintliness. Noteworthy is

the symbolicimportance of the spatialsequenceduring the entireevent:first, the

elevated podium, an area designated for declamatoryspeech, where Francis

preached;

then the crypt, the deepestplace, situatedbeneaththe altar,whereFrancis

revealedhis nakednessand donned the noose of the condemned man; and finally,

the way out to the horizontallevelof the crowd, which is at one andthe sametime

both a disorderlyplace and a place where genuine feelings of understanding and

compassion canbe evoked.Thus,the stages of the journey were transformed

into as

50 * PAJ 73

form" prevalent at the time.6The failureof

most scholarship to recognize Francis's

Auerbachwrites:"Thecoreof his being andthe impact of his life arecentered upon

the will to a radical and practical imitation of Christ" in contrast to the

"predominantlymystico-contemplative

Itwouldbe useful, at this point, to describesomesceneswhichdemonstrate

(1) One Easter, upondiscovering

(2) On another occasion, when he was exhausted by the quartan ague (febbre

quartana) and suspected he had been givenspecial treatment, he called together the

people of Assisi.After preaching to them, he hadhimself dragged naked through the

crowdand charged himselfbeforethem with having eatenmeat.9While this scene

had shock value, it also produced an "alienation"

manysymbolic moments, and presented not in the usualformof intellectual

exegesis, butasa concrete

theatrical

allegory.

the ideological dimensionof

thesermon.After yielding to the pleadings of severalnunsthathe address

transcended

them, he

thathisaudienceofwomen might bedistracted

byseeing theFatherandthe

in theconventional way itsessential meaning

might belostin deadwords.Sohe adopted a solutionthatwas quite different

from

any used up to thattime:he traceda circle of ashes on thefloor andstoodstilland

silentatitscenterforso long a timethattheentirehushed assembly was brought

tears.Thesilencewasfollowed by a psalm,presented

asan intense, moving chant.'?

is the creatorof a voice and figure, conceivedas empty

receptacle, whichdrawin andholdthebreathof God;thus, theeventinstillsfresh

life in a servicethatwasat riskof losing its power in repetitiveceremony. The

conditionedmindis trickedandbefuddled by a sight which,rather

than filling the

spectators' mindsand accosting their senses,empties them so they can havea

transcendent

experience.

in the creationof a

dramathatwould help themunderstandwhatthe night of the birthof Jesus was

like. People wereaskedto reconstruct

to accounts by Tommasoda CelanoandBonventura

a community was actively

da Bagnoregio,"

underFrancis's

instructions,

involved

the crib physically and then perform the

it withthe eyes of

the body"(with their senses), as Francis said, and participate

and especially

the simple folk,could"see

in the epiphanic

encounterbetweenthe mundaneandthe divine.At the endof this performance-

play in which everyone was an actor-andhence, in whichtherewasno audience-

Francis gave instructions

to leavethe crib empty, so as to avoidthe danger of

"see" the Genuinewith the eyes of the soul (mentally or intellectually), which

occurredafterhis chanting and preaching.

thefictionfor reality.According

to him, onecouldachieve

the capacity

In thislast example, weencounter

two aspects of theatrical

performance:

first,asan

artformwhichalterstheactor's

stateof consciousness,making himorhersee (the

and second, as a teaching tool that makesa lesson

manifest (and thusmakesit lasting). The latter aspect wasoftencharacteristic

experience);

Franciscan

performance.

Francis

is a creatorof allegories

thatcontain symbols and

metaphors whichhaveautonomous

valuesof their own, the allegorybeing not a

lesson"but essentially a synchronic

composition with a logical

figurative

orderthateach spectator must interpret

forhimselforherself.12

Beginning

in thesixteenth century,

theatreasa way of teaching was adapted-and

ideologicalbacking-for didacticdrama,first in a Jesuit

compass, andlater by theatresof pre-eminently

ideological mold,aboveall,butnot

only,by the twentieth-century

agit-prop

theatreof theleftandthe right. However,

ATTISANI I Franciscan Performance * 51

(3) Another example showshowFrancis

realized

Manandthatwereheto give asermon

In this example, Francis

(4) A veryspecialperformance was that of the constructionof the firstcrib.

According

eventsso that everyone,

mistaking

transcendental

"literal

given sophisticated

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