High Plays

A performance of The Emperor in Azophin

In Outer Joriscian theatrical tradition the term High Play (High Secote: ⰗⰀⰁⰖⰎⰀ fabula) refers to traditional dramas historically put on for elite entertainment, although today they are performed for a much more diverse audience via television.

The High Play derives from Sabāmani theatre, as is evidenced by its Secote name (cognate with Ellish 'fable'), but has acquired various new features during its time in Outer Joriscia. Some of these may be derived from Chotar, whilst others are innovations, in particular the common use of singing and a strong poetic element; most High Plays are written in some form of meter (in particular Plesajo) and make heavy use of rhyme. Most High Plays are also laced with an intertextuality which can prove baffling to the untrained Messenian ear and adds many layers of additional meaning for the educated Vesnite, often playing on common Formulae and the vast Outer Joriscian canon.

The oldest recorded High Plays, dating from the immediate period after the Secote conquest of Outer Joriscia, drew on a conventional cast of characters drawn in part from the Pochizinia and in part from a broader Secote tradition. They are also written exclusively in High Secote. During the Neritsovid period, however, playwrights like Houveprourkah shel Imit paved the way to the development of new forms, experimenting with new characters and plotlines. In the next generation, Samu Bes Ighsa and Guran Eshveny pioneered the writing of High Plays in Rashimic and Lacrean alongside their more conventional work in High Secote. Although the rise of the Oblitors brought an end to the golden age of 17th-century High Plays, it was these playwrights who essentially created the modern High Play and whose work served as the direct inspiration for the reinvigoration of the tradition that took place under Ratibor II. Although plotlines and subjects have changed with the times, the basic elements of performance and style remained the same until the introduction of large orchestras in 19th century Lacre, which soon spread to other areas. Even today, however, the fabula is often performed a capella.

Traditionally High Plays were performed by trained companies maintained by members of the High Nobility in specially built amphitheatres or halls in their urban residences. For the Neritsovid elite, ownership of a small personal band of actors was extremely fashionable and patronising a playwright even more so, if he was seen to be successful. The most talented performers were able to make a great deal of money: Hishortoyl bes Bizru, whose name is still invoked in the old Neritsovid territories to express distasteful displays of wealth, was one of the richest non-noble citizens of early 17th-century Great Pestul before he was murdered by the Oblitors. When High Plays were resurrected during the late Neritsovid period, however, it was largely under state rather than individual patronage thanks to a number of factors, one of them the relative impoverishment of the High Nobility after the Errancy Era. Plays were now typically performed in the larger Schools under the supervision of the provincial governor or monarch. In the late 19th century extravagant concert halls began to be built on state initiatives in some Schools, and plays continue to be performed there to this day. When television was introduced in the 20th century to Outer Joriscia, High Plays - considered suitably educational and highbrow, in contrast to the bawdy Low Plays - were among the first programmes broadcast. Today The Emperor, an adulatory biography of Nerits, is one of the most televised works of literature (whether in adaptation or directly) in Outer Joriscia.