Medieval drama

1. Medievaldrama Millennium 1 Page31

2. Medieval Drama ORIGINS • Religious celebrations commemorating great Christian events: the Mass, Christmas and • Easter; • Main subjects: the Creation, Adam and Eve, the murder of Abel, and the Last Judgment; • Initially, the performances took place in the nave of the church and were given by monks • and priests but soon moved out of the church; • Latin, therefore, was replaced with English and the clergy with common people ; • Reasons for using the vernacular in the medieval drama • The rise of the middle class; • The growth of towns; • The formation of religious and trade guilds (town corporations representing artisans and craftsmen); • Main forms • Mystery (Miracle) Plays Morality Plays Episodes from the Bible: From the Creation of Adam to the Resurrection of Christ to the Last Judgment Moral and allegorical reading of man’s life 13th, 14th and 15th centuries

3. Mystery or MiraclePlays • staged by members of the trade guilds; • each guild specialised in a single biblical episode according to their craft: fishmongers were responsible for the representation of “the Great Flood”, bakers were in charge of “The last supper”, carpenters of the building of Noah’s ark and so on. • performed in broad daylight on movable stage wagons: pageants; • pageants stopped at some places in town: the market place, the town hall, the bishop’s residence; • pageants were open on all sides; • people used to stop in front of them and watch an episode; • each pageant represented a section of the all story; • to see the complete story people had to move from one pageant to another MoralityPlays • characters were not taken from the Bible but personifications of human vices and virtues; • first step towards a psychological interpretation of characters; • use of invented plots; • the focus is shifted from ancient history to contemporary environment; • most popular Morality play was “Everyman”

4. Interlude • develops towards the end of 15th century; • short play usually performed by a small acting company at a lord’s house; • combines serious and comic elements; • two main technical expedients are used: the disguise and the dramatic character called the vice; • the purpose was to arouse laughter by means of witty wordgames. Conclusions • The Medievaldramawas • the mostpopularformof art in the Middle Ages: • allsocial classeswatchedit; • the local population was involved in the creation of settings and all objects • required to perform the play; • the actors were simple citizens who played the roles of biblical characters for • one day