Medieval theatre
Medieval theatre
Tropes
Trope (Gr.) - a short text, spoken or sung, used
as as an ornament of the church liturgy
Quaem Queritis? (Lat. Who are you looking for?)
- recorded by bishop Ethelwold of Winchester in
a book of rules for the Benedictines Regularis
Concordia (965 – 975)
the dialogue between the angel and the three
Marys on Easter morning
Liturgical drama
very few examples extant in England – 6 stanza
of
Caiaphas
(early 14
th
c.) for the Palm Sunday,
and so-called The Shrewsbury Fragments (bits of
plays about Christmas, Resurrection and the
journey to Emaus)
Inside and outside
Liturgical drama inside the churches and
mystery plays outside them coexisted until the
Reformation.
Different purpose – liturgical drama was used as
an ornament for church services, mystery plays
as Biblia pauperum for educational purposes
Mystery plays
the preaching activity of the Franciscans (est.
1210) and the Dominicans (est. 1215)
the establishment of the Feast of Corpus Christi
in 1311
devotio moderna – establishing personal,
emotional relationship with God
Great Mystery Cycles
York (the longest)
Chester
Wakefield (a.k.a. Towneley, after the name of
the manuscript owners)
N-town (earlier attributed to Coventry, probably
an anthology)
staged by guilds
Wakefield Cycle
at least 5 plays by the same anonymous author
(called the Wakefield Master)
Non-cyclical plays
Especially popular in East Anglia
Non-cyclical plays
Miracles (saints’ lives) – Mary Magdalene
Morality plays – The Castle of Perseverance,
Mankind, Everyman
staged by professional groups led by “property
players”
Place -and-scaffold
Theatre-in-the-round
Morality plays
Psychomachia – the fight for man’s soul
the figures of Vice/Devil – often comical and very
popular
also staged in big halls – no separate stage
helps to involve the audience
