Medieval Theatre

History of Theatre

900-1500 AD
Modern Perspective

 International in scope and religious in

nature
 Began as a springtime religious
observance
 Celebrated common mythos- the Old and
New Testaments of the Bible
The York Cycle
 Actors would get in
costume and hop on
wagons
 Crowds were gather
in the streets to
watch them pass
 The wagons would
often have two levels
to portray heaven
and hell
The Procession
 The wagons paraded through town, stopping
before the homes of dignitaries
 Each wagon is responsible for the telling of a
biblical tale
 This took place every year on Corpus Christi
Day
 Began with “The Creation and Fall of Lucifer
 Ended with “The Judgment Day”
Corpus Christi Day

 A feast day that celebrates The Last

Supper
 Primarily came about from a nun named
Juliana of Liege
 actual date of Corpus Christi changes
each year
Conditions of Performance

 It was a religious theatre, therefore its

bookings, costumes, dialogue and
staging came from the Church calendar
Background

 After the fall of Rome, and before the

renaissance, the time is called Middle
Ages.
 A very active time as cathedrals were
built, the crusades occurred, and
kingdoms were divided and conquered
 The foundations for modern languages
were laid during this time
Background continued

 The Church was extremely opposed to

any other type of theatre due to the
mimes. They still did exist though.
 The Church developed its own dramatic
ceremonies to combat the appeal of
pagan rights
 Pagans believed in multiple gods. (i.e..
The Ancient Greeks)
Religious and Civic
Purposes
 The Church felt dramatized episodes made
moral lessons more graphic and easier to
understand.
 The Church calendar provided several holidays
to develop theatre
 Drama remained inside the Church Walls for
200 years
 The first ever play was called Quen Quaeritis
Quem Quaritis
 3 women looking to
dress the corpse of
Christ
 Find out from an
angel that Christ has
risen
 Shows grief turning
into joy
Management
 Some major changes began to take
place by 1400
 Short religious plays were put together to
make longer plays
 Were staged during Spring and Summer
 Everyday language replaced Latin
 Regular people replaced clergy as the
actors and producers
Festival Theatre
 The church still had to approve
 Between 1350-1500 Medieval theatre
flourished
 Clergy began to reduce its participation
 Towns began to finance and produce the
festivals
 Producers oversaw everything, they got choirs,
nobles loaned costumes, meals were prepared
and lodging was provided. Laborers built the
staging. Basically the whole community helped
Playwriting

 Anonymous
 Clergy wrote the four-line playlets
 Later the dialogue was expanded
 As it became more elaborate, more
playwrights were recruited
 This opened the door for professional
playwrights
Acting and Rehearsing
 Rehearsals took place
over months
 Held between dawn and
beginning of the work
day
 Actors were fined for
lateness, not knowing
lines or being drunk
 Multiple playlets were
rehearsed at the same
time
Actors
 Some received fees
 At first it was to reimburse the actors
 Late 1600’s began to see professional actors
 Very few women performed in medieval plays
 Only exceptions were for female Saints
 There were two reasons: male hierarchy and
trained choir boys had better projection
Visual Elements
Staging
 Were performed on fixed or movable stages
 The fixed stage was usually against buildings
on one side of town square, or in an
amphitheatre
 The movable stages were wagons
 Usually broken into three parts from left to right
Hell, Earth, and Heaven
 Nothing was depicted in its entirety. Very little
illusion of a real place.
Special Effects

 Producers gave great attention to

“secrets”
 Examples included Hell issuing fire,
smoke and cries of the damned,
trapdoors, pulleys and ropes.
 Due to this we began to see
semiprofessionals begin to develop for
scenery and special effects
Costumes and Props
 Two types of garments: ecclesiastical robes
and everyday clothes
 Accessories such as wings were added
 Props were used to identify characters i.e.
sword, mirror, snakes etc..)
 Heaven reps dressed to awe
 Hell reps dressed to scar
 Common humans dressed according to rank
 Great detail went into designing the devil
Music
 Music was prevalent in medieval theatre
 Heavenly scenes featured beautiful choruses
 Trumpets’ announced god
 Vocal and Instrumental music bridged
intermission.
 Singing was down by choirboys and actors
 Instruments were played by professionals
Popular
Entertainments
Mummings
 Masquerade balls
 Related to drama due to disguise, processions
and need for a spokesperson
 In time it included music, song, dance,
scenery, and texts.
 Usually a mumming play would end with the
collection of money to pay for refreshments
and local charities
Street Pageants

 When dignitaries would come to town

they would set up stages all along the
street
 Clerks and children would then address
them with songs and speeches
 This provided a sense of civic pride
The Audience
 Spectators came from surrounding towns and
countryside – all classes came
 Posters were put up on city gates and
invitations were sent out to neighboring towns
 A trumpeter rode through town announcing the
events
 Work was forbidden during performance time
 Most were free, however in some of Europe
there was a fee