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Medieval Pageant Plays

Medieval Pageant Plays. WELCOME To the York Pageant Festival 48 plays, jugglers, music and much more! Beginning the 24 th of May at 4:30am Until 6am of the 25 th of May. York Cycle Festival. There were 48 playlets in the York Cycle The York Cycle was one of the largest

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Medieval Pageant Plays

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  1. Medieval Pageant Plays

  2. WELCOME To the York Pageant Festival 48 plays, jugglers, music and much more! Beginning the 24th of May at 4:30am Until 6am of the 25th of May York Cycle Festival

  3. There were 48 playlets in the York Cycle • The York Cycle was one of the largest • The plays began from the “Creation and Fall of Lucifer” to “Judgment Day” • York Corpus Christi plays (an annual celebration of the “Body of Christ”) told a biblical history from Creation to Doomsday • Began in approx. 1378 York Cycle Festival

  4. #1 York Cycle *shortest text, *set in heaven (upper stage) and hell (lower stage) *presented in different vertical levels of the stage, *represented the conflict between good & evil, *ended with the sunrise Creation and Fall of Lucifer

  5. This play would run from around 4:30 am until sunrise • the series of playlets would proceed for a number of days until late hours of the night or sunrise • Each play would last anywhere from 30-50 min. • Daylight often marked the end of the plays

  6. Wagons elaborately crafted, temporary stages that evolved from “Mansions” (many stages set up, and the audience would walk around) • The stage was no more than 8 by 12 feet • they had 4 to 6 large wheels, 2 stories, a lower curtained dressing room (5-6 ft. in height where actors change costumes and keep props) and the upper stage; where the acting took place (approx. 8 ft. above ground)

  7. The stage represents more than one locality (actors move between them without leaving the stage) • EX. Second Shepherds’ Play; one side of the stage represents Mak’s Cottage while the other is the open field and Manger. The Shepherds can efficiently approach the cottage without any interruption, such as a change in set/scenery

  8. The Guild’s friends and volunteers participated in the acting with little to no pay • Professional actors received premium wages (by playing lead roles of God, Jesus or Satan) • Approx. 300 actors were required for the Cycle which played over 500 roles • There were usually 4-10 characters/play

  9. Actors were professionals who added imagination & humor to the plays through improvisation and freedom with their characters • Characters were often turned into buffoons for amusement (Lucifer), to involve the audience and encourage them to participate in the acting • Ranting & Boasting were used frequently for character portrayal (Lucifer’s constant boasting; EX. “Fairer by far than anyone here...Oh, how I am well-formed and figured full fit!”)

  10. Acting was bold- used a lot of gestures and expressions • Character’s expressed their inner thoughts and feelings • EX. Lucifer- “I shall be like unto Him that is highest on height. how noble and wise am I” • Plays begin with main character talking to the audience to establish set, characters & the situation EX. The Creation and Fall of Lucifer, God’s opening speech "I am Alpha and Omega, the life...”

  11. During the course of the plays the characters speak to the audience by telling jokes and asking for their reactions, while remaining ‘in character’ (as seen in presentation) • Costume uncertain exactly what they looked like, however they often used familiar dress & peasant garb, • God wore white leather while the Devil wore black, complete with horns, tail and wooden fork

  12. The Second Shepherds' Play Wakefield Cycle *medieval masterpiece, most widely studied *written by the Wakefield Master *combined comedic elements *seen by some as blasphemous, due to the comic treatment given to religious subject matter *called “a farce of Mak the sheepstealer”

  13. Two forms in Wakefield Cycle Stationary (wagons align in rows and viewers walk around) and Processional (audience assembles along a route and the wagons would be brought to them in succession) • There were 32 playlets from “The Creation” to “The Hanging of Judas” • The Wakefield Master  5-6 plays in cycle are attributed to him (identity is unknown)

  14. Stage is extended into the streets and ground-level balconies • The plays were crafted by Guilds, who were responsible for casting, funding, rehearsing & producing a play • These wagons were either created by the Guild or could be rented for 5 shillings (today $1000)

  15. Language rural “common” dialect, rhyme, romance words, figurative speech, exploits ambiguities & details contemporary life ALLITERATIONS EX. "How worthily wrought with worship…”-Lucifer (The Creation and Fall of Lucifer) RHYME EX. “In me there is no point to impair; I feel myself so well-formed and fair” –Lucifer “Sing lullaby on fast, When thou hearest at the last; And but I play a false cast,” -Wife (Second Shepherds’ Play) “Tell us Mak, if ye may, How fare ye, I say?”-Shepherd 1

  16. Concern with Realism in scenery, costumes and effects • Some plays used real animals (Shepherds’ Play) • Special effect trap doors, smoking hell pit, “rope-and-pulley” platforms (to elevate God in plays such as The Creation and Fall)

  17. Scenery Used descriptions in dialogue in place of sets due to the limited space EX. “Underneath me now an island I neven, Which island shall be the Earth. There at once shall be Earth wholly, and Hell, and highest Heaven”-God (The Creation and Fall of Lucifer)

  18. STRUCTURE long-lined stanzas with very short 5th line followed by 3 lines with 2-3 stresses with only a single rhyme followed by a concluding line which ties back to the 5th EX. “Lord, what these weathers are cold! And I am ill happed. I am near-hand dold, so long have I napped; My legs they fold, my fingers are chapped, It is not as I would , for I am all lapped In sorrow. In storms and tempest, Now in the east, now in the west, Woe is him has never rest Mid-day nor morrow!”- Shep. 1(2nd Shepherds’) EX. “All the mirth that is made is marked in me! The beams of my brightness are burning so bright And so seemly is sight myself I now see, For like a lord am I left to dwell in this light. Fairer by far than anyone here, In me there is no point to impair; I feel myself so well-formed and fair, My power surpassing has no peer.”-Lucifer

  19. MUSIC used when: Characters (Angels) sing/entrance of a King/in God’s presence/to depict passing of time/control violent actions (massacre) on stage by slow-paced music • Silent interludes are important EX. When 3 Shepherds search for their sheep

  20. Innkeepers would sell food, drinks & lodging at these festivals • Audience could walk around or sit on temporary bleachers that were set up • Entertainers at the festival included jugglers & mimes • The festival would span for many days until all playlets were preformed and then the festival group would move to another location to perform the series of plays again

  21. THE END

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