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Explore the evolution of British drama from the Anglo-Saxon period to the seventeenth century, including the origins of liturgical plays, mystery and miracle plays, morality plays, and interludes. Discover the key themes, topics, and styles of each dramatic form.
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SEMESTER ICORE COURSE IIBRITISH PROSE AND DRAMA: ANGLO-SAXON TO SEVENTEENTH CENTURY Topic: Origin and Development of British Drama Shubhra Singh Sardar Assistant Professor Department of English B. B. College, Asansol
Medieval Drama • Liturgical Plays • Mystery and Miracle Plays • Morality Plays • Interludes
LITURGICAL pLAYS • Drama evolved due to religious predispositions • Liturgical plays were plays related to church • Performed inside the church • Bible was written in Latin so common people found it difficult to understand • The clergy tried to find new methods of expounding the teachings of the Bible • Liturgical plays were a medium where stories of Gospels were explained through living pictures or question-answer songs performed by monks on Easter
mystery plays • These were plays depicting life of Christ – His birth, death and resurrection • Performed on platforms called mansions. • Three mansions represented Heaven, Hell and the Sea of Galilee • Medieval craft guilds took over the presentation of drama • Pageant wagons – stages on wheels • Divided into two levels (upper = stage, lower = dressing area)
Difference between mystery and Miracle Plays • It has long been the fashion to call the Biblical plays “Mysteries” and those dealing with saints lives “Miracles”. • Miracle plays specifically re-enacted miraculous interventions by the saints, particularly St. Nicholas or St. Mary
CYCLES OF mystery plays • The York cycle – 49 plays • The Wakefield/Towneleye Cycle – 32 plays • The Chester Cycle – 25 plays • The N- Town Cycle – 42 plays
examples of Mystery Plays • During the14th and 15th century these plays were performed in the Corpus Christi festival • For such elaborate cycles presented out of doors only summer festivals were really suitable, as the feast of Corpus Christi • Eg.Noah ( Wakefield cycle), The Three Mariesetc.
Folk Drama – secular drama (non-religious) • Discouraged by the church • Took place around planting and harvest time and presented outdoors • Most pagan religions gave thanks to an earth goddess, hence celebration around planting and harvest. • Example: Robin Hood
morality plays • Morality plays were dramatized allegories of a representative Christian life. • Protagonists usually represented Mankind or Everyman • The other characters were personification of virtues, vices and death • Angels and Demons contest for the prize of the soul of Mankind
note • Allegory is a story where the characters and sometimes the settings are symbols for particular ideas about human life or some political scenario.
plot of a Morality play • Major theme - Quest for salvation • Crucial events are - Temptations - Sinning - The climatic confrontation with death
note on the character - Vice • A character known as the ‘Vice’ often played the role of tempter in a fashion both sinister and comic. • He is regarded by some literary historians as a precursor both of the cynical, ironical villain and of some of the comic figures in Elizabethan drama, including Shakespeare’s Falstaff.
interludes • These were short performances or plays that were placed between the acts of longer plays. • They often used religious and political issues as their topics. • But they were presented as secular farces and witty dialogues. • Performed in the late 15th and early 16th century by bands of professional actors
example – THE FOUR PP • One clear link between late medieval morality plays and 16th century theatre is the interlude The Four PP by John Heywood that dates from the early 1540s. • The four characters are – A palmer - A pardoner - A pothecary - A pedlar • These four characters engage in a lying contest
note • Farce isa kind of comedy that provokes simple hearty laughter among the audience – “belly loughs”. • This is done by using highly exaggerated and caricatured characters and putting them in improbable situations.
first English comedy • Ralph Roister Doister( about 1552) by Nicholas Udall • GammerGurton’s Needle ( acted at Cambridge in 1556) • Arranged in five acts like the classical ordering • But the material was native and original • Humour – was coarse and vulgar without any intellectual appeal • With this the drama was relieved from allegorical representation of middle English period to real life representation with natural characterization.
first English tragedy – form and style • Gorboduc (1561) by Thomas Norton and Thomas Sackville • It was also the first play in blank verse composed of regular metrical lines of iambic pentameter which were unrhymed. • This brought the dialogues near to the natural rhythms of English speech • Later in Elizabethan and Jacobean drama blank verse became the standard form
first English tragedy – theme and plot • The subject matter was a political one about who would ascend the throne. • It reflected the contemporary uncertainty of the succession to the throne. • It introduced the genre of Senecan tragedy that was developed by the later playwright Thomas Kyd in The Spanish Tragedy. • It was a direct imitation of Seneca as it portrayed a series of slaughter, bloodshed and revenge.
important questions • Define the terms Miracle play and Morality play? Evaluate their contribution to the growth of English drama. How “interludes” are related to these plays? • Discuss in details the first English comedy and the first English tragedy and estimate their role in the development of British drama.