MEDIEVAL THEATRE
theatre of Europe between the fall of the Western Roman Empire and the beginning of the
Renaissance
refers to a variety of genres because the time period covers approximately a thousand years of
the art form and an entire continent
Staging
the plays were performed either
--In inn yards, --on pageant wagons in the streets of great cities (this was inconvenient for the
actors because the small stage size made stage movement impossible), --in the halls of knights ,
--on top of a mountain and lords, --in the round in amphitheatres,
Actors, predominantly male, typically wore long, dark robes.
featured lively interplay between two distinct areas, the wider spaces in front of the raised
staging areas, and the elevated areas themselves (called, respectively, the locus and the
platea).[1]
actors would move between these locations in order to suggest scene changes, rather than
remain stationary and have the scene change around them as is typically done in modern
theater.
Genres
The 5 "M's" of Medieval Theatre:
1. Mummings
• performed in yearly rituals, such as the summer and winter solstices and spring and autumn
equinoxes,
• These performances were public communal processions in common social areas, excepting
chapels.
• Mummings were also unapologetically politically incorrect.
2. Mysteries
• or “Cycle” plays, were performed in each summer.
• a joint effort by the community, in which different guilds were assigned a portion of the Bible to
act out on a makeshift stage—wagons—in a community square.
• As is tradition, only man acted on the stage in the Medieval period.
• These plays were utterly didactic and deeply scriptural, focused on sharing the gospel story.
3. Miracle Plays
• focused on spirituality outside of the Bible
• dramatized the lives of canonized Saints
• heavy emphasis on absolute truth instead of fact meant that events in the plays may not have
been realistic.
4. Morality
• heavily allegorical and straight didacticism,
• extremely entertaining.
• great focus of the morality play is death.
• death was considered a great equalizer because everyone goes with death eventually.
5. Manners
• focused on the social and secular instead of the religious
• took the idea of the morality play and putting it in a social world instead of a spiritual.
• Depicted people acting socially inappropriately.
Most authors of medieval plays are anonymous. Important ones are:
• Hrosvitha - the first female playwright, a nun from Gandersheim
• The Wakefield Master - contributor to some of the plays of the Wakefield Cycle, including "The
Second Shepherds' Play." His real name is not known.
• John Bale - English churchman
• Adam de la Halle - French composer