How to Use - Rolecall

GENDERED SPEECH: COMPARISON TOOL

SEARCH DATABASE

The SEARCH DATABASE function works as a typical database or catalogue: by either typing in keywords into the provided search boxes or browsing the full collection, you can consult all the plays itemised in ROLECALL.

By default the plays are displayed in alphabetical order according to title, but you can also sort the entries by clicking on the different headers. In addition, you can filter the results by typing into the search boxes provided above. The filter boxes allow you to select more than one option, and you can use more than one filter at a time as well. The results can be sorted and/or filtered according to the following attributes:

LAST NAME, FIRST NAME: A text written by a single dramatist
LAST NAME, FIRST NAME / LAST NAME, FIRST NAME / ETC.: A text written collaboratively by two or more dramatists
PSEUDONYM (FULL NAME): A text written by a dramatist who was publicly known by their pen-name (eg. Molière, Tirso de Molina)
–––: A text written anonymously or for which we do not know the author

TITLE: The shortened and/or best-known given title of the play

ENGLAND (includes the other nations of the British Isles)
FRANCE
GERMANY
ITALY
NETHERLANDS
PORTUGAL
SPAIN (includes the then Spanish-controlled territories in Central and South America)

DATE: Year in which the play was written and/or first performed
DATE–DATE: Range of years in which the play was written and/or first performed
–DATE: Latest year in which the play was written and/or first performed

ARISTOCRATIC SPECTACLE: Spectacle performed at court or at the palace of a member of the nobility (eg. court masques)
CLOSET DRAMA: Play that was not intended to be performed onstage, but rather read individually or recited/performed in small groups
LITURGICAL SPECTACLE: Performance most commonly of a religious and/or allegorical nature, often played in outdoor public spaces, as part of the festivities of the liturgical calendar (eg. mystery plays, autos sacramentales)
MINOR THEATRE: Short play. These can be stand-alone plays (eg. early sixteenth century eclogues and interludes, Spain and Portugal's autos, France's comédies en un acte, etc.), they can be performed before, after or in between parts of a larger performance (eg. Spain's entremeses), or they can be brief reactions or responses to other theatrical productions (eg. France's critiques)
MUSICAL: A theatrical performance primarily constructed around music and song (eg. opera)
SCHOOL DRAMA: Play that originates in the academic environment, such as the grammar schoolroom or the university, usually with a didactic purpose
STAGE PLAY: Play written to be performed publicly on the commercial stage. This is the default option when the performance circumstances are not clear
STREET THEATRE: Theatrical performance in and outdoor public space without a specific paying audience

ALLEGORICAL / MYTHOLOGICAL: Play based on a mythological narrative, primarily from ancient Greece and Rome; play of a (primarily) non-religious nature in which the characters represent ideas or abstractions instead of persons
COMEDY
HISTORY PLAY: Play based on a historical narrative or episode
RELIGIOUS PLAYS: Play based on a religious (normally Christian) narrative and/or with a clear liturgical/evangelising character
TRAGEDY
TRAGICOMEDY / PASTORAL: Play that blends aspects of both comedy and tragedy, often transpiring in a rural setting

ADULT ACTING COMPANIES: eg. Chamberlain's/King's Men, Duke of York's Men, Queen Anne's Men, Comédie-Française, Troupe Royale, Théâtre du Marais, etc.
CHILDREN ACTING COMPANIES: eg. Children of the Chapel/Revels/Blackfriars, Paul's Children, etc.
AUTORES DE COMEDIAS / CAPOCOMICO / THEATRE IMPRESARIOS: eg. Pedro de Valdés, Gaspar de Porres, Diego de Morales, Elena Osorio, La Troupe de Molière, etc.
CHAMBERS OF RHETORIC: eg. Egelantier, Het Wit Lavendel, etc.
–––: Unknown or non-existing acting troupe

CONVERTED TENNIS COURTS: eg. Lincoln's Inn Fields, Jeu de Paume de Berthaud, La Fontaine, etc.
COURT BUILDINGS: eg. Cockpit-at-Court, Palace of Whitehall, Palacio del Buen Retiro, Théâtre du Palais-Royal, Théâtre des Tuileries, Corte di Urbino, etc.
EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS: eg. Inner Temple, Middle Temple, Gray's Inn, Lincoln's Inn, Maison Royale de Saint-Louis, Collège de Boncourt, etc.
INDOOR THEATRES: eg. Blackfriars, St. Paul's, Whitefriars, Théâtre du Marais, Hôtel de Bourgogne, etc.
INNS: eg. Bull Inn, Bel Savage Inn, Cross Keys Inn, etc.
OUTDOOR THEATRES: eg. Globe, Theatre in Shoreditch, Curtain, Corral del Príncipe, Corral de la Cruz, Mesón de la Fruta,
STREET PERFORMANCES
–––: Unknown or non-existing performance venue

Each play has a personalised PDF chart containing the information of each character’s role length, as well as a breakdown into female and male characters and speech. You can access and download the charts by clicking the button for each play in the VIEW CHART column on the right side of the table. These charts contain the following information:

Play metadata (author, title, country, date, mode, genre, troupe, venue)
Amount and percentages of female/male/other characters and speech
Dramatis Personae, including the amount of words spoken by each character and their gender (dark blue for female; light blue for male; grey for other; striped for characters who spend a significant amount of time disguised as the opposite gender)
Stacked columns graphic visualising the percentages of female/male/other characters and speech
Name and URL of the edition used

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GENDERED SPEECH: COMPARISON TOOL

The GENDERED SPEECH: COMPARISON TOOL, located immediately below the database table, is a visualisation programme that allows users to juxtapose elements in the database and see how they match up with regard to the amount of female and male speech within a selected corpus. You can compare a series of plays, authors, national corpora, plays written for this troupe or venue in mind as opposed to another… and thus provide a panoramic view of a selection of early modern European plays as it pertains to their dynamics of gender and protagonism.

The tool is linked to the SEARCH DATABASE function above, i.e. whatever you see in the table is exactly what will be visually represented in the columns below. If you filter/sort the results in the table with the filter boxes (shown above), the same will happen in the columns below. The default view is of 25 plays, but you can change that to 1, 5, 10, 50, 100 or to show all in the top left corner of the table. You can also change it to group the selected results into authors, countries, modes, genres, troupes and venues by clicking on the different tabs on top of the columns.

On the top right corner of the tool you can click on the EXPORT button to show the results in full screen, print them, or to export them either as spreadsheets (.csv/.xlsx) or as images (.pdf/.png/.jpeg/.svg).

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HOW TO CITE

INDIVIDUAL PLAY CHART: “Author, Title” in David J. Amelang (coord.), Rolecall: A Database of Characters in Early Modern European Theatre [http://www.rolecall.eu], date accessed: dd/MM/YYYY.
COMPARISON TOOL: “Gendered Speech: Comparison Tool” in David J. Amelang (coord.), Rolecall: A Database of Characters in Early Modern European Theatre [http://www.rolecall.eu], date accessed: dd/MM/YYYY.

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IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS…

…please feel free to contact us via our contact form in the HOMEPAGE. The database is under constant development, and as time goes by we will be adding more search and comparison features to the already-existing ones. We welcome any questions or advice regarding how to improve ROLECALL‘s service to the academic and playmaking community.