Medieval Platform Stage

Medieval Theatre  Time frame: 5 th century - mid 16 th century  Theatrical performances were banned by the Roman Catholic Church as barbaric and pagan  Most Roman theatre had been spectacle rather than literary drama

Drama in the Early Middle Ages  Small groups of traveling performers – minstrels, jugglers, acrobats, bards, mimes, puppeteers -- went from town to town entertaining.  They performed in taverns and at festivals for the commoners and at court for the nobility  Festivals usually contained both pagan and Christian elements ( e.g. Halloween and Christmas celebrations )

Hrotsvit of Gandersheim  One of the earliest European playwrights  Her 6 plays, written in Latin, are based on Roman comedies by Terence, but focus on female characters in situations that test their devotion to Christian virtues.  Her intention was to revise the negative portrayals of women that she found in his comedies.

Types of Medieval Drama  Performances by traveling entertainers  Liturgical tropes: gospel dramatizations  Mystery plays: Biblical plays  Miracle plays: saints’ lives  Morality plays: allegories  Interludes and farces: secular plays  Folk plays: pagan and folklore elements

Liturgical Drama  The Roman Catholic Church was responsible for the rebirth of European theatre in the 10 th –12 th century  All Europe had been converted to Christianity  The Church needed ways to teach illiterate parishioners: cathedrals, stained glass windows, sculpture, painting and drama

Liturgical Drama  Religious rituals ( the mass, baptism, etc.) embody theatrical elements.  Priests began to incorporate such elements into the gospel lessons of the mass.  The first short plays were called tropes  Written in Latin, these tropes were performed by the clergy during the mass.

Religious Vernacular Drama  Vernacular: language spoken by the people  To reach the commoners, the clergy began to translate the liturgical plays into vernacular languages  As the plays became more elaborate, they were moved from the altar of the church to the church yard.  As more roles were added, commoners were used as amateur actors

The 3 M’s of Religious Vernacular Drama  Mystery plays: Biblical stories  Miracle plays: saints’ lives  Morality plays: allegories

Mystery Plays  Mystery: The term could refer to Biblical truths or to the secrets of the crafts held by the guilds who were responsible for producing the plays.  In England, these Biblical plays were produced in cycles: a series of plays depicting Biblical history from the Creation to the Last Judgment. Also known as Cycle Plays.  The cycles were usually performed at the religious festival of Corpus Christi -- in the spring or early summer.

Mystery Plays performed by Trade Guilds  While the plays were written by the clergy and overseen by the Church, the performances were produced by the guilds of each town and mostly performed by amateur actors.  Productions were considered a religious duty, and each guild invested considerable resources into productions.  Plays were often assigned to guilds associated with the subject matter of the play and became a kind of “advertisement”  The Flood: Shipbuilders or Barrelmakers  The Nativity: Shepherds  The Magi: Goldsmiths

Modern Productions Chester Mystery Plays York Mystery Plays The Lichfield Mysteries B.J. Elvgren. Quilt: depicting scenes from Chester’s 14 th century dramas set against modern city landmarks – Chester Cathedral

Dramatic Techniques  English mystery plays incorporate a combination of high seriousness and low comedy:  High seriousness: the Biblical stories of the Old Testament and Jesus’ life and mission  Low comedy: slapstick sketches of contemporary medieval daily life.  The plays are set in contemporary settings with recognizable contemporary characters: the truth of the Biblical stories is timeless -- the divine truths revealed in the Bible are still true “today.”

Miracle Plays  Miracle plays were similar to mystery plays in dramatic techniques  Dramatized the lives of Roman Catholic saints ( in order to become a saint, a person had to perform 3 documented miracles)  The most popular subjects were the Virgin Mary (plays usually written in Latin), St. George (dragon slayer and patron saint of England) and St. Nicholas ( associated with Christmas festivities)

Morality Plays  Theme: how to live a Christian life and be saved.  Allegory:  A story told on two levels: the literal and the symbolic  Plot: a journey through life or to death  Emphasis switches from Biblical and saintly protagonists to the common man  Focus on free will  First major use of professional acting companies

Staging the Plays  PROCESSIONAL  Pageant wagons would - travel a set route and perform at several locations: like a parade or - would be set up around a town square and the audience would travel from one wagon to the next to see the performances  STATIONARY  Mansions or 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

Pageant Wagon

Medieval Mansions

Dramatic Techniques  Theatre was performed in found spaces: town squares, taverns, churches, banquet halls -- no specifically designated theatres  Theatre was intimate -- audience interacted with performers  Elaborate special effects  Characterization was often dependent upon costume and makeup

Interludes and Farces  Combined elements of allegory, classical myth, and courtly entertainment (music and dance)  Interludes were short plays performed between courses at court banquets  Farces were longer plays ridiculing such human follies as greed and dishonesty  As the mysteries, miracle and moralities were censored by Protestant authorities, secular drama became more important to all levels of society

Folk Plays  Often performed at such holidays as Christmas, New Year and May Day  Incorporated remnants of pagan rituals  Robin Hood  Feast of Fools: Fool companies consisted of young men, whose chief business was to play gross comedies and to execute nonsensical and often ribald travesties on the Mass. These boisterous "Feasts" antedate most of the mysteries, and may have been reverent in their origin.

The End!