Fresno State students were transported back in time with a performance of two medieval comedies on March 4 in the Satellite Student Union.

Le Cercle Français, the French club of the modern and classical languages and literatures department, brought Les Enfans Sans Abri, a comedy troupe, to Fresno State.

The comedy troupe’s goal is to show how the sense of comedy in medieval times is similar to current times in regards to themes and how jokes are told, illustrating how people still laugh at the same things.

“I hope [students] realize that we haven’t changed that much from 900 years [ago],” said Natalie Muñoz, professor of French classes at Fresno State, said. “But also that they understand a little bit about what makes medieval people think; that they were highly religious but also that they could laugh at themselves.”

The troupe consisted of three actors for the performance: Sharon Diane King, Curt S. Steindler and Barry Scott Silver. However, there are many more members that make up Les Enfans Sans Abri.

The first performance was “The Saintly Mister Louse” which featured Steindler dressed as a giant louse interacting with the audience. Throughout the performance, King described the louse in a praising manner, as well as the trials and tribulations of the louse’s life. King said that there were a variety of performances of fake sermons such as this one during medieval times of other mock saints, such as Saint Onion.

“The Joyous Farce of Martin de Cambrai” was the second performance by an anonymous 15th century author. A cobbler (Steindler) and his wife (King) get into an argument, causing the cobbler to lock the wife in their house. The local priest (Silver) and the wife then create a plan in order to get her out so that she can stay with the priest.

“I just enjoyed the light-hearted humor and the kind of universal themes, the cuckold husband, the naughty priest,” Muñoz said “I still think they’re funny today even though these taboo subjects [are] something we’re not used to seeing.”

Many students attending had been encouraged to do so by their French classes. However, they were able to both enjoy a comedy show while also learning.

“It was interesting because it taught me about the history of the past people in medieval times,” said Iris Medina, a third-year psychology major.