Medieval Theatre Overview

Medieval Theatre

• The Middle Ages, also called the Medieval Period, spanned from the fall of the Roman Empire (475 AD) to roughly 1300 or 1500 AD.
• Early Middle Ages, sometimes called the Dark Ages, saw a loss of Greco-Roman culture and social instability. It's inaccurate to say this period had no cultural value.
• Feudalism was a key aspect of Medieval society, with nobility and the Church owning land and the majority of the population (peasants) working it. Peasants were expected to give a portion of their harvest to their lord in exchange for the right to live on the land. Conditions for peasants were difficult, with little chance for upward mobility or education.
• Religious services, holidays, and festivals provided the only significant opportunity for leisure and entertainment for the lower classes.
• The church had mixed feelings about drama; sometimes banning or discouraging it, contributing to the lack of written plays and theatrical performances in the Early Middle Ages. Folk festivals, jugglers, and wandering minstrels were more common forms of entertainment.
• Church leaders sometimes viewed drama with suspicion.

Resurrection of Theatre

• While the Church was sometimes opposed to drama, it played a role in its resurrection.
• Masses were said in Latin, but the congregation did not understand this language.
• Tropes, short dramatized scenes, were introduced to help the illiterate understand the service.
• Tropes spread and developed into dialogue and were presented in local languages.
• These scenes became the basis for many religious plays.

Types of Medieval Plays

• Mystery plays - depicted stories from the Bible
• Miracle plays - highlighted the lives of saints
• Morality plays - illustrated moral lessons and right vs. wrong, a notable example is Everyman.

Development of Plays

• As drama became more popular, it moved from churches to public spaces like market squares,
• Guilds (unions of workers) became sponsors of plays, providing skilled labor and resources to increase the quality of the productions.
• Trade-based guilds (blacksmiths, carpenters, cooks) were particularly active in this development, with their skills presented in the drama.

Staging and Performance

• Early plays presented episodes in a particular sequence; heaven and hell were on opposite ends of the performance area and other scenes filled the spaces in between.
• Pageant wagons (double-decked wagons), were employed by the English, French, and Dutch. These wagons moved in a procession, presenting the plays' parts episode by episode to the audience who gathered in front and around the wagons, somewhat like modern parades.
• The Cycle Plays were a sequence of plays, like scenes in a parade.
• Passion Plays: This type of play depicted the last days of Jesus's life. The Oberammergau Passion Play is performed every ten years (after a gap in WWII).

Cycle Plays and Modern Parallels

• Modern TV series share common features with Cycle Plays.