Medieval%20Theatre

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Medieval Theatre
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The dark ages

• The Middle Ages were the period between
  500a.d.-1000a.d.
• The fall of the Roman Empire marked the beginning
  of this era
• Cities were abandoned and life became more
  agriculturally focused
• The Roman Catholic Church controlled religion,
  education, and politics

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Rebirth of Theatre in the Middle Ages

• The church shut down all theatrical activities
  for 200-300 years, but jugglers, minstrels, and
  mimes still traveled from town to town.
• Theatre was (ironically) reborn in the church in
  the form of liturgical dramas
• In a liturgical drama, priests or members of the
  choir would enact small segments of the bible to
  eventually become short drama performances
• In the beginning, the liturgical dramas were
  performed in Latin

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Rebirth of Theatre

• Later on, the liturgical dramas expanded into
  longer plays based on biblical stories and were
  performed in town squares, not in churches
• These later performances were called vernacular
  drama because the were performed in the everyday
  speech of the people

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Medieval Drama

• 3 types of religious plays were popular in the
  Medieval Period
• Mystery (cycle) Plays dramatized biblical events
  from Adam and Eve in the Old Testament through
  the stories of Christ in the New Testament
• Miracle (cycle) Plays dramatized the lives of
  Saints
• Morality Plays used religious characters and
  themes to teach a moral lesson

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The Plays

• Virtually all of the plays were short equivalent
  to one act plays today
• Mystery and Miracle plays were often strung
  together to form a series known as a cycle
• Often times, the story was taken out of the
  Biblical era and placed in present day. Also, the
  character were given conventional new names.
• The plays mixed comedy and drama

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Pageant Wagon
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Medieval Theatre Production

• The plays took place across Europe including
  Spain, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, and
  England
• Large stages were set up in the town square.
  These set ups were called mansions
• Another convention was the use of pageant wagons
  which were rolling wagons that contained scenery
  and costuming including a backstage area and
  stage space.

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Medieval Theatre Production

• The stage accommodated any change in scenery by
  standing as a universal set or unidentified
  space.
• This freedom of movement based on imagination was
  later developed and perfected by Renaissance
  Theatre in Spain and England

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The Performers

• The performers were usually local trade workers
  called Craft guilds.
• These lay people (silversmiths, leather workers,
  carpenters, etc) rehearsed extensively and
  provided their own costumes props
• The productions could be quite lengthy, some
  lasted as long as 25 days.

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The decline of the Middle Ages

• Decline of religious theatre occurred due to the
  weakening of the church as a source of political
  power
• The Protestant Reformation was largely
  responsible for the decline of religious material
  and for the movement toward secular, or
  non-religious, theatre
• The Renaissance is born!