1. 500 A.D. to 1500 A.D. A Dark time that brought Christianity to light.
Medieval Theatre
500 A.D. to 1500 A.D.
A Dark time that brought Christianity to light.

2. Early Middle Ages ( )
In the time following the fall of the Roman Empire theatre had little importance. Small bands of performers—storytellers, jesters, tumblers, jugglers-- traveled and performed wherever they could find an audience.

3. Early Middle Ages ( )
Secular theatre died in Western Europe with the fall of Rome
Theatrical performances were banned by the Church as barbaric and pagan
Most Roman theatre had been spectacle rather than literary drama

4. Roman Literary Drama Origins in Greek drama and Roman festivals
Playwrights
Tragedy: Seneca
Comedy: Terence and Plautus

5. Roman Spectacle Gladiatorial combats
Naval battles in a flooded Coliseum

6. Liturgical Drama
The Church was responsible for the rebirth of European theatre
The Church needed ways to teach illiterate parishioners: cathedrals, stained glass windows, sculpture, painting and drama

7. The 3 M’s of Medieval Plays
Mystery plays: Based on Biblical stories
Miracle plays: Based on the lives of the saints
Morality plays: allegories

8. PLAYS Passion plays based on the last week in the life of Christ.
Trope -short dramatized scenes added to the Catholic mass.
Cycles– a series of short plays based on religious history
Allegory - a symbolical narrative; the representation of abstract ideas by characters

9. Staging the Plays PROCESSIONAL STATIONARY Pageant wagons
Travel a set route and perform at several locations: like a parade.
STATIONARY
Mansions
A series of stages would be set up around the town square
Anchored at either end by Heaven and Hell
Elaborate special effects such as floods, flying and fiery pits were very popular

10. Mansions

11. Mansions

12. Pageant Wagons A multi-level cart that doubled as a stage.
The underside was the dressing rooms.
Each guild would create a wagon for their part of the cycle.

13. Pageant Wagon

14. Pageant Wagon

16. Guilds and Cycle Plays
Guilds were groups of tradesmen (bakers, goldsmiths, etc.) whose trade was responsible for part of a story from the Bible which, when combined, made a cycle.
Each guild would compete with the others to see who could produce the most elaborate story.

18. Cycle

19. Works Cited