Shroud, Girdle, Swaddling, Feather: Yde and Olive and Performance Storytelling as Medievalist Feminist Praxis

Abstract

As a medieval researcher and a performance storyteller, I use performances to bridge the gap between the groundbreaking work being done on gender in medieval studies and public perceptions of this period. My show Yde and Olive is an adaptation of an Old French thirteenth-century story of cross-dressing, female autonomy, and queer love. It is the latest among my six medieval storytelling shows, which aim to confront the problem that histories and stories showing diverse gender roles remain underrepresented in modern medievalism. Meanwhile, my audience response data demonstrates an eagerness beyond academia to hear stories from the past that contain more expansive representations of gender and sexuality. In Yde and Olive , I wanted to make connections between medieval and modern gender concerns and diversify the repertoire of commonly told medieval stories (often stories told about men and by men), to include tales which centre the agencies of female and queer characters and those who research them. This self-reflective paper provides a case study of the creative and research methods I used to adapt Yde and Olive for modern audiences, as well as considering the responsibilities inherent in any form of public medievalism.