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Churches: The Center of Dramatic Activity

Churches: The Center of Dramatic Activity. By Amber Kaulbach & Adam Freeman.

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Churches: The Center of Dramatic Activity

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  1. Churches: The Center of Dramatic Activity By Amber Kaulbach & Adam Freeman

  2. From the beginning of the Middle Ages to the end of the Renaissance, the assumption that vernacular plays were being performed outside the Church has now been discovered that in fact many of these plays were being performed within the Church and outside on Church grounds.

  3. Dead White Guys’ Opinions • E.K. Chambers The Medieval Stages 1903liturgical plays stayed inside the church, all vernacular plays moved outdoors for the laity. The progress of the theatre was chronological and ordered • A.C. Cawley 1983influenced by Chambers’ The Medieval Stages and agreed with him

  4. Tid-bits of Information • REED (Records of Early English Drama) • 143 parish churches already known • 10% survival of records=more than 2,000 plays performed in churches before 1642

  5. Why use a Church? • A building that was in every community • Everyone within the community knew where it was • A building which could host the entire community • The building was ideally set-up for many plays to be performed • Any other reasons??????

  6. Purpose of the Plays Being Performed in the Vernacular • Enticement for many people was to see something in a language they could understand • The messages being presented in sermons were being presented in a more pleasing manner

  7. Banning of the Plays!!!!! • Bans were initiated by the Bishops • Prohibition of ‘inhonesti ludi’ • The idea that the performances attracted ‘rogues, actors, whores, and other vile persons’ (p. 26) • These vernacular plays were helping to give birth to aspects of the Reformation

  8. Although the clergy ‘banned’ the performance of these plays within the Church, ‘Old habits apparently are hard to break…’ (p. 26). Many of these plays were still being performed in the Churches. But how is this so? If these plays had been banned then how were some still being performed within the Churches?

  9. The reason for disagreement within the field is due to the poorly recorded events of various plays performed within the Churches. An example of this is the parishes who had no reason to keep these plays after they had been performed but for the few that do remain the records are not clear of what the content of the plays were with only incomplete lists remaining. An exception to this is morality plays which were preserved but only a few of them can be found.

  10. In Conclusion… With the evidence established by REED, prior beliefs in the relationships between the Church and theatre have changed. BUT there is still little known about the actually performances within the churches and other religious houses.

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