Download Medieval Theatre

Medieval Theatre
th
th
6 –15 Century
 After
the collapse of the Roman
Empire in the 5th Century, the
theatre lost support and funding.
 With
the spread of Christianity
throughout Europe, actors and acting
were banned as seen as evil from the
5th Century.
Church Drama
By the 9th Century these same Christians
began to use drama to portray the story of
their religion and church.
 Slowly, starting from short scenes and
gradually moving to plays, churches
became the venue where performances
were given.
 This was called liturgical/church drama
and was widespread throughout Europe.

 At
first these plays were spoken then
acted by priests and choirboys, and
later as popularity increased, by
other men.
 Women
were not yet allowed to
perform.
The Performance Venues
 As
these plays were performed in
churches, the altar was the central
background, and on one side was
Heaven and the other side was Hell.
 Simple
sets and props were created
and used as part of the plays, and
the audience sat in the usual church
pews.


The Church did not condone actors
portraying the devil inside the church
building.
As plays became more complicated,
church performances became impractical
and some performances were now done
outdoors, on the steps and outside the
front doors of the church.
Theatre Moves Back Into the Community
 When
the plays left the church
buildings, the town began to run
pageants
 These
pageants were organised by
the Trade Guilds, very like today’s
trade Unions
 All
the tailors were in one guild, all
the carpenters were in one guild, etc.
 Each guild organised to create and
present a biblical story related to its
trade
 The fishermen might stage a scene
from ‘Jonah and the Whale’
 ‘Noah’s Ark’ could be staged by the
shipbuilders’ guild
Performance Venues
There were two ways in which these plays
were performed to their audiences:
 Each scene could be performed in a
different place, on scaffolding set up in the
street, and the audience moved from
scene to scene
 Or the audience could stay in one place
and the scenes were performed on
wagons that would move to where the
next audience waited for them
Religion & Theatre
 All
the plays were religious
 They
were called ‘mystery plays’ and
were based on stories from The Bible
 However
the Guilds would add
comedy to their scenes to further
entertain their audiences
Features of Mystery Plays
Use of humour
 Pageant wagons or temporary outdoor
staging
 Many actors, both male and female
 Multi storey stages, often with three levels
representing Heaven, Hell and Earth
 Elaborate costumes
 Special Effects (SPX) including fire and
fireworks

Types of Medieval Theatre
There were three types of medieval
theatre:
 Mystery Plays
 Miracle
Plays
 Morality
Plays
 Mystery
plays were performed by the
Guilds and were based on biblical
stories
 Miracle
Plays were based on the
stories of lives of the saints.
 Morality
Plays were performed to
show right from wrong according to
the church. Townspeople were easily
influenced as they were mostly
uneducated and illiterate
General Characteristics
Most plays were well written
 The plays highlighted the ever present
reality of eternity, by hell and heaven
being so dominant on stage. Eternity was
more important than time on earth, so
historical accuracy was not seen as
necessary. God’s power was seen as all
powerful, and cycle plays were common.
These cycles were made up of many
mystery plays that could be run together
to represent the Bible from beginning to
end.

Stagecraft
 There
were no theatre buildings
 Performances
took place at various
venues and usually outdoors
 Temporary
stages were set against
buildings or in the middle of a town
square, and represented earthly and
eternal existence
Scenery was used in a tokenistic way to
represent different locations
 Medieval clothes were worn by all human
characters in the play
 Fancy dress and accessories were worn by
angels, devils, saints and God
 Devils also wore hideous masks and
costumes
 Special effects (SPX) were exciting and
sometimes dangerous, eg. fire

Medieval Theatre Today
 Some
of the medieval plays are still
performed today in various parts of
the world.
 They include the morality play
‘Everyman’, and the mystery plays
known as ‘The Wakefield Cycle’, and
the ‘Passion Play’ from
Oberammergau, Germany.
Everyman –a modern version
Oberammergau, Germany –The Passion Play
Into The Renaissance
As society changed and began to probe
issues more deeply, there was a need for
non religious drama and so the religious
plays declined in the 15th Century.
 This change was driven by two things:
 The split in the Church and the
introduction of Protestantism
 The introduction of The Renaissance and
its different general philosophy
