Medieval drama
Millennium 1
Page 31
Medieval Drama
ORIGINS
• Religious celebrations commemorating great Christian events: the Mass, Christmas and
Easter;
• Main subjects: the Creation, Adam and Eve, the murder of Abel, and the Last Judgment;
• Initially, the performances took place in the nave of the church and were given by monks
and priests but soon moved out of the church;
• Latin, therefore, was replaced with English and the clergy with common people ;
Reasons for using the vernacular in the medieval drama
1. The rise of the middle class;
2. The growth of towns;
3. The formation of religious and trade guilds (town corporations representing artisans
and craftsmen);
Main forms
Mystery (Miracle) Plays
Episodes from the Bible:
From the Creation of Adam to
the Resurrection of Christ to the
Last Judgment
Morality Plays
13th, 14th and 15th
centuries
Moral and allegorical
reading of man’s life
Mystery or Miracle Plays
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staged by members of the trade guilds;
each guild specialised in a single biblical episode according to their craft:
fishmongers were responsible for the representation of “the Great Flood”, bakers
were in charge of “The last supper”, carpenters of the building of Noah’s ark and
so on.
performed in broad daylight on movable stage wagons: pageants;
pageants stopped at some places in town: the market place, the town hall, the
bishop’s residence;
pageants were open on all sides;
people used to stop in front of them and watch an episode;
each pageant represented a section of the all story;
to see the complete story people had to move from one pageant to another
Morality Plays
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characters were not taken from the Bible but personifications of human vices and
virtues;
first step towards a psychological interpretation of characters;
use of invented plots;
the focus is shifted from ancient history to contemporary environment;
most popular Morality play was “Everyman”
Interlude
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develops towards the end of 15th century;
short play usually performed by a small acting company at a lord’s house;
combines serious and comic elements;
two main technical expedients are used: the disguise and the dramatic character
called the vice;
the purpose was to arouse laughter by means of witty wordgames.
Conclusions
The Medieval drama was
• the most popular form of art in the Middle Ages:
• all social classes watched it;
• the local population was involved in the creation of settings and all objects
required to perform the play;
• the actors were simple citizens who played the roles of biblical characters for
one day