Drawing on a letter from Late Antiquity explaining the difficulties experienced by a performer who recently converted to Christianity, the article explores the religious, juridical, and literary perspectives required to read this kind of source. By analysing the Christian polemic against theatrical performance and the Christian anthropology of choreutic gesture, it underlines that the connotation attributed to the profession of actor/dancer/performer inevitably conflicted with the entire Christian theoretical framework of performance, which only allowed forms of exhibition in which men acted on the world’s stage before God. Consequently, anyone who converted to Christianity had to stop practising the profession forthwith because members of the vita scaenica belonged to another reality excluded from the Christianised Platonic framework of the choreia.

Avendo come punto di partenza una lettera di età tardoantica che spiega le difficoltà incontrate da un performer di recente convertito al cristianesimo, l’articolo esplora le prospettive religiose, giuridiche e letterarie che sono necessarie alla comprensione di questo genere di fonti. Analizzandola polemica cristiana contro gli spettacoli e l’antropologia cristianadella gestualità coreutica, si sottolinea come la connotazione attribuita alla professione di attore/danzatore/ performer si trovasse inevitabilmente in conflitto con l’intero sistema teorico cristiano della performance, che permetteva unicamente forme di esibizione in cui gli uomini agissero sulla scena del mondo al cospetto di Dio. Di conseguenza, chi si convertiva al cristianesimo avrebbe dovuto necessariamente smettere di esercitare quella professione, dal momento che i membri della vita scaenica appartenevano a un’altra realtà, esclusa dalla choreia cristiana di matrice platonica

Donatella Tronca (2021). To Be or Not to Be Part of the vita scaenica. Religious and Juridical Perspectives on the Status of Dancers and Performers in Late Antiquity. MYTHOS, 15, 188-203 [10.4000/mythos.3159].

To Be or Not to Be Part of the vita scaenica. Religious and Juridical Perspectives on the Status of Dancers and Performers in Late Antiquity

Donatella Tronca
2021

Abstract

Drawing on a letter from Late Antiquity explaining the difficulties experienced by a performer who recently converted to Christianity, the article explores the religious, juridical, and literary perspectives required to read this kind of source. By analysing the Christian polemic against theatrical performance and the Christian anthropology of choreutic gesture, it underlines that the connotation attributed to the profession of actor/dancer/performer inevitably conflicted with the entire Christian theoretical framework of performance, which only allowed forms of exhibition in which men acted on the world’s stage before God. Consequently, anyone who converted to Christianity had to stop practising the profession forthwith because members of the vita scaenica belonged to another reality excluded from the Christianised Platonic framework of the choreia.
2021
Donatella Tronca (2021). To Be or Not to Be Part of the vita scaenica. Religious and Juridical Perspectives on the Status of Dancers and Performers in Late Antiquity. MYTHOS, 15, 188-203 [10.4000/mythos.3159].
Donatella Tronca
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11585/840681
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