Medieval work plays to a packed Fairchild Chapel
2/13/04
By Sarah Carsman

Oberlin students soak up morality when it’s dressed up in medieval costumes, carries feminist implications, and is performed by a dedicated cast of Winter Term students expertly directed by senior Mary Larew.

The last of three performances of Hildegard von Bingen’s Ordo Virtutum, a morality play from the Middle Ages, played to a packed Fairchild Chapel on February 10. Hildegard is recognized as one of the earliest feminist role models; she was a renowned scholar in many fields, as well as an important political figure. She was also strikingly liberal in her attitudes towards sex, especially considering her religious foundations. Historians credit her with being the first to scientifically describe the female orgasm.

Ordo is one of Hildegard’s better known works. Part ritual, part drama and part music, it defies ordinary concepts of genre. Despite some underlying unevenness among their musical and dramatic backgrounds, Larew’s cast did an admirable job of bringing out each of these elements. Especially notable for both their musical and dramatic performances were freshman Caitlin Maura Smith as Anima (The Soul) and senior Christopher Macklin as The Devil. Macklin in particular deserves credit for his impressive delivery of a Latin text with a medieval German accent, an effective artistic decision that suited his portrayal of the Devil perfectly.

Fairchild was a perfect setting; Larew took full advantage of the opportunities it allowed for positioning actors in the aisles and the organ loft in addition to the stage. The production made good use of both the spatial and acoustical qualities of the hall. The performance was also satisfying musically, with praiseworthy singing by many of the Virtues. While some of the ensemble numbers were less polished, the obvious enthusiasm of the cast more than made up for any lack of precision.

Musicians Debra Nagy, Doug Milliken, Martin Kratky, Zoe Weiss and Valerie Neverman added to the performance with instrumental interludes, which were composed and compiled by the director. While the use of authentic instruments may have been jarring to some audience members, the attention to stylistic accuracy exercised by all of the musicians helped immensely to set the mood of the music.

The whole cast and crew of Ordo should be congratulated for an excellent performance – it was their commitment and energy that really brought this masterpiece to life. Both the quality of the performance and its warm reception testified to the intellectual flavor of the Oberlin College community; one can’t imagine crowds of students being turned away from a performance of a 12th century morality play at just any school.