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One of my great frustrations with performing arts in the SCA, is that despite the fact that the SCA is a historical recreation society, too few people seem to extend that recreation aspect to performing arts. People feel perfectly comfortable performing filks or modern cute-sy stories. On occasion, I have heard people seem even hostile to the idea of extending the notion of "period" to the performing arts.
This is a great tragedy, IMHO. One of the most valuable functions performing arts has in the SCA, is the chance to bring people deeper into a period feel. We, as performers, can can bring the listener back into time, enveloping them in an atmosphere of enchantment.
Or we can function like a slap of cold water on a sleeping person's face and shatter the illusion of magic for anyone who listens.
Furthermore, when we tell period tales, we entertainingly educate people on what the medieval/Renaissance/cultural mindset of whatever group created our tale. For example, Starapola's "Sleeping Beauty" is nothing like Perrault's "Le Belle Au Bois Dormant." The respect tendered the Saracens in the Orlando cycle speaks volumes about the complex relationship of Christian Europeans to the Muslims living next to them in the Mediterannean.
Plus, these are good, entertaining tales. Why not tell them? It's not too hard to find a period source for whatever culture you're from, and it is just as easy to learn to tell something period as to learn to tell something non-period. So what benefit is there to telling the non-period tale?
A conversation I had recently has helped me think of further ways to explain my objections: everyone in the SCA has certain things which make them "idgy." Cooks might object to chocolate, Garb mavens might object to visible zippers, or a person may object to seeing large plastic Taco Bell cups on a table during feast. Imagine what it is which makes you personally "idgy" at an event, the particular grossly-out-of-period thing which smashes the illusion completely for you.
That is what obviously out-of-period references in a story does. It is impossible to maintain the magic of the SCA while listening to someone discuss cars or doggie doors or technology. And for those of us who begin researching (or even just reading) period tales, what becomes a clearly out-of-period reference, becomes a little less obvious, although just a smidge.
For example, there is nothing blatantly modern about a fairy-tale in which the youngest princess decides that rather than be rescued by the prince, she's going to run-off with the dragon instead. However, anyone who has read even a smidgeon of period literature, is going to find that as modern a tale as a tale about a person's car breaking down. It will shatter the illusion of being at a remote-point in time for us.
So please, the same rules apply to the Performing Arts as to the other Arts & Sciences: it is always easiest to begin by finding something period which you like and working with it than to find something you like and to try and document it backwards (unless perhaps you happen to be extensively trained in the Historic-Geographic Method of Folk-tale Analyses *grin*).
And think about how much you hate seeing those things which make you "idgy." Out of respect to those of us who have chosen the Performing Arts as our serious form of SCA entertainment, please avoid doing those things which make us idgy.
To start, go see the Another interesting place to look at is The Online Medieval and Classical Library , which has many of these texts scanned into e-format in case you cannot find them in print or at your library. *grin* Yet, another benefit to telling period tales is that you know the work is in public domain! You may also want to check out The Anthology of Middle-English Literature Some storytelling stuff, some literature that I wouldn't consider easily adaptable to telling, some poetry, and mystery plays. Essays and bibliographies are included about each topic, and it will be a nice place to look for if you want to experiment with theatre as well as telling. Or you can look at Internet Medieval Sourcebook This is another exhaustive collection of medieval literature, some suited for storytelling and some just great for informative reading. It is organized by time, subject, and culture. It also has a collection of works available in French and Spanish to those of you with personae from those cultures who speak those languages. Alessandro's site is another SCA storytelling page (that I wish someone had told me about when I was IN Carolingia!) which contains useful links for both stories and SCA storytelling. It also contains a link to Emerald Press Alessandro's company for selling hard-to-find period works. The Sur La Lune Fairy Tale Pages is a good place for a person who is absolutely in love with a modern fairy-tale and would like to find a period version. The pages contain brief histories of many currently popular tales, which will not in and of themselves provide a period version, but will tell you which sources you should look at to find the period tale. The Gutenberg Project is an enormous collection of e-texts which can be searched either by title or author, but is best utilized when searching for a specific work as it is not dedicated to any time period or culture. Also, beware of works labeled "Traditional." Traditional does not mean pre-1600. Another interesting collection is Legends, a site with information on legendary figures as well as Ballads and Broadsides. Bibliography of English Translations from Medieval Sources is exactly what it looks like.
The SCA Minstrel's Page, which has a collection of articles on performing arts. There wasn't a lot useful to the storyteller that I saw, but the article "Does it *sound* period" has an interesting checklist designed for the singer, but with points applicable to the teller as well. A thread in the Archive also addresses the issue, this time with comments for the storyteller. Ranging a little farther into the academic fields, Missouri's Center for the Study in Oral Traditions, contains an annotated bibliography of resources for investigating oral traditions, as well as a subject guide to articles published in the As you can see, I am doing my best to make these pages a very complete resource both for finding out what period sources exist in each culture and for finding translations on the 'Net. However, I can spend very little time updating these pages and searching for links. Plus I am obviously not a specialist on every culture (*blush* or well, actually any). If you know of links or sources that should be included here but aren't, please e-mail me at madame_sosostris@hotmail.com and I will add them right away.
