Play time examines the relationship between time, gender and anti-Semitism in late-medieval biblical drama. It produces an important re-theorisation of the ways both gender and Judaism have been considered, as well as arguing that medieval drama provides a source for examining lay attitudes towards time in Hebrew and Christian narratives. The book charts the conflicts staged between dramatic personae in plays that represent theological transitions or ruptures, such as the Incarnation, Flood, Nativity and Bethlehem slaughter. Interrogating medieval models of supersession and typology, it asks how such models are subverted when placed in dialogue with characters who experience alternative readings of time. It employs various theoretical lenses to complicate readings of early theatre´s biblical matriarchs and patriarchs and argues that conflicts provide crucial evidence of the ways late-medieval lay producers, performers and audiences were themselves encouraged to experience and understand time. Dealing with plays often taught at undergraduate level, as well as less familiar material, Play time will be useful for students and scholars working on medieval performance, medieval gender and queer studies, Jewish-Christian studies and time and periodisation.
