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Unit I

The Middle Ages

Term I – Group Three: The Arts

Drama in the Middle Ages

Leonard Martinez

Glendale Community College

HIS 101

Instructor: Donna Allen

September 26, 2017

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You’ve probably heard the story. When Rome fell, it took theatre with it. The Church,

hostile to amusement, stamped it out. Entertainment went underground, and actors were

relegated to the fringes of society, persecuted, buried in unhallowed graves (Braet, Herman,

1985). Many know that after the fall of Rome we hit something called the “Dark Ages”. No

leadership, death, power struggles where people suffered and most of all Cultural and Economic

deterioration in all western Europe all thanks to the fall of Rome (Braet, Herman, 1985). During

the power struggle, ultimately, the church was still in power and an opportunity arises. During

the high Middle Ages, the Roman Catholic Church became organized into an elaborate hierarchy

with the pope as the head in western Europe; He established supreme power (Tydeman, William,

2004). Many innovations took place in the creative arts during the high Middle Ages. The late

Middle Ages were characterized by conflict. Towns and cities began to grow in alarming

numbers; the new towns wanted to have their own self-control. In the late medieval period, there

was an urge for the direct experience with God only thanks to the direct influence of the arts the

church utilized to establish this.

The rebirth of the theater can be solely credited to the Church (Price, Lindsay, 2011).

Although very aware of the secular theater, the church was very much opposed to it and tried

offering an alternative for their agenda. The churches were faced with explaining a new religion

to a majorly illiterate population, so these dramas visualized what would later be able to be read

in the Bible. The approach the church took to stage dramas in every day church masses was the

usage of “Liturgical dramas”. This approach was “type of play acted within or near the church

and relating stories from the Bible and of the saints (Braet, Herman, 1985). Although they had

their roots in the Christian liturgy”. The language of the liturgical drama was Latin, and the

dialogue was frequently chanted to simple monophonic melodies (Braet, Herman, 1985). Music
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was also used in the form of incidental dance and processional tunes. Liturgical drama did not

involve actors impersonating characters, but it did involve singing by two groups (Braet,

Herman, 1985). The earliest traces of the liturgical drama are found in manuscripts dating from

the 10th century. Its genesis may perhaps be found in the chant “Quem quaeritis” (“Whom do

you seek”) (Braet, Herman, 1985). The liturgical drama gradually increased in both length and

sophistication and flourished particularly during the 12th and 13th centuries (Braet, Herman,

1985). As Previously stated, population growth was so huge that during the dark ages this

became a medium to get away from such harsh troubling times and gain some form of

entertainment while learning. Since these dramas in the church gradually gained in popularity,

the churches began to also gradually get over capacity.

With overcapacity and fear that the people would lose interest, the church took an

approach and decided to take the dramas outdoors and stage them on the ground of the church

(Medievalchronicles.Com, 2017). With that in mind, popularity grew even bigger that the church

started to get creative and build larger properties with areas for dramas to take place and even

take it to the heart of the cities. But these were not just simple plays where a group of people got

together and made something happen. Essentially this was the beginning but thanks to many bits

and pieces that took place, drama by the church was complex, full of entertainment, and

ultimately was so well known that it was controlled solely by the church at any given time

among the lands (Braet, Herman, 1985). All drama was done by the church, the church gave

approval and dramas took place. Thanks to the introduction of music in the 6th century, words

were fitted with melodies and a dramatic dialogue began to take place in the form of an

alternation of chants between the priests and choirs (Price, Lindsay, 2011). Later Processional

and scenic effects were added which increased dramatic action. Then we see liturgical drama
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evolved into Mystery and Miracle plays, Morality plays, and then we see farce plays come to

play.

In the churches, these three themes arise and were the foundational elements of any and

all plays that took place in the church and that the church presented. First was one the main

importance of why the church presented the plays and what their main motive was. Besides the

hope of ultimate conversion to Christianity to the lost, one of the main goals of the church was to

teach morality. Morality plays were crucial during a time of free reign from oppression and

freedom of choice. Following the dark ages, morality plays were hoping to guide people in the

right path of life during a time of independence, hunger for knowledge while free of oppression

(Mathews, Brander, 2017). Morality plays consisted of portraying to the public more basic

stories that were not necessarily from the bible (Mathews, Brander, 2017). They hope to portray

to the public the powers fighting for our influence; Good vs. Evil. These dramas based on the

spiritual trials of the average person during this time (Mathews, Brander, 2017). Like our

average fairy tale, morality plays were aimed to teach the audience a lesson; essentially to leave

with something that they ponder about and ultimately change something in their life in order to

achieve that lesson and its ultimate goal (Mathews, Brander, 2017). The church was huge about

heaven and hell, ultimately showing a lot of hell as much as they could for ultimate repentance

among the public, morality plays taught people how to basically live and die “Properly” by the

means of what initial design was by God. With morality plays, According to Brander Mathews

“The Medieval Drama” article on TheaterHistory.com, they were good on showing the common

struggles among all of man and showed plays about moral temptations; these included greed,

vanity, pride. These also created a lot of modern philosophy during this time but were also the

main points of morality plays since they did not have struggles like pornography or many
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substance abuses like in today’s day and age (Mathews, Brander, 2017). With the teachings of

these moral temptations, they taught key attributes like patience, good will, and honesty

(Tydeman, William, 2004). The “action” of morality plays was the battle of good and evil to

possess a person’s soul. In these plays the actor was placed in situations where he or she was

tested of their courage to overcome some form of evil. The common theme that something was

after you to possess you for evil if our moralities did not straighten up. The best example of a

morality is the classic showing of “Everyman” published in 1508 (Mathews, Brander, 2017); the

tale of a dying Everyman and the items and qualities he most values, which attend to him in his

death. God speaks to him, essentially most of the seven deadly sins or portrayed din usage of

personification and truly Everyman was a gut-wrenching story ought to carry much conviction in

the heart of the attendees’.

Another theme used in dramas during the middle ages by church was the usage of

Mystery and Miracle Plays. Initially starting dramas in the church as plays of morality with some

bible stories here and there, every growing populations showed that they were wanting more.

Church drama expands to present more and more Bible stories and drama progresses even more

an essentially this is what it becomes during this time. Less serious and heavy like morality

plays, these plays were amusing to the public, and this was acceptable to the church since it

carried interest into more stories and what was written in the bible. Seeing how the public

enjoyed the physical presentations of these stories, the church went on to make more very good

and public showings of some of the most known and critically essential stories of the Christian

faith (Tydeman, William, 2004). Since the majority of the public was illiterate these proved to

show that the bible was interpreted in a way that was best fitting to the public at that time. These

plays were based on the lives of saints and stories of Bible. Some common saints that were acted
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out were example like the Virgin Saint Mary, St. George, and St. Nicolas (Price, Lindsay, 2011).

These plays were ways to re-enact Christian major events to the faith like Christmas and the

miracle birth of Jesus Christ and Easter which was the resurrection of defeating death by Jesus

Christ (Tydeman, William, 2004). Instead of straying away and focusing on the popularity of

being “entertained”, they play’s maintained Christian themes, showing struggles between man

and the devil, the miracle of creation (Adam and eve) and stories involving Jesus Christa and his

life (Mathews, Brander, 2017) . The best example of a Miracle and Mystery play is the “Passion

Play” dealing with the suffering, death, and Resurrection of Christ. Showing us attributes of his

“passion” and Mary Madeline, little bits of Lazarus, his love, and the last supper.

The third piece of these dramas the ultimately last and was later integrated in plays was

Farce Plays. With such heavy content sometimes of morality plays, the church thought it would

be essential to include some type of “breathing room” during times of heavy emotion of these

plays (which was almost every single play) (Braet, Herman, 1985). Not only this but catering to

the popularity notion, the church was slowly coming away from such strict manner of secular

drama and allowing a bit of humor to come about tin their plays. The sole purpose as previously

stated was that farce plays were intended to be used during plays of heavy morality (Braet,

Herman, 1985). One thing to emphasize is the fact that these morality plays were simply no joke;

these plays were very hard hitting in dialogue, carried heavy conviction, and most of all the

atmosphere in the room or around the drama was very heavy so farce were essentially very

necessary and smart of the church to have them be incorporated. Only aspect to this and that

soon we will see that these farce plays became a double edge sword to the church. We can view

farce plays to be used as mini interludes to allow people to breathe, smile, and even attend

people using the restroom or stepping out for a second (Tydeman, William, 2004). These plays
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were usually known for their crudeness at that time, known for making people laugh

emphasizing usage of jokes, jokes about sex, distress, and experiences accompanying digestion

(Tydeman, William, 2004). Some examples were plays of husbands distressing about something

simple, making a fool of themselves, or even joking about sex since during this era a lot of

“lovers” were known to spur about.

As mentioned, farce plays ultimately became much more popular than the other two

themes and the sole purpose of which why people came to the plays was no longer for the aspect

of god and the teachings in the bible but for the farce itself (Medievalchronicles.Com, 2017). It

became so popular that it eventually moved away from the church and separate plays were

starting to be made, slowly and surely giving people the independence to make plays and

develop drama into many different aspects of entertainment and teaching. Some people use this

style of drama to gain some sort of fame or recognition and eventually profit was starting to

come about from dramas because of the farce popularity (Tydeman, William, 2004) . So, we can

see how far this can go as to the drama that later came to be and giving us great people like

Shakespeare and many other well-known people of the arts in drama and amazing plays to come.

These plays were not at random location or put together at last minute. A well-structured

stage became a norm for planning and executing plays. One key thing we get from the middle

ages is the usage of Simultaneous staging and the usage of “mansions” on the drama stage

(Tydeman, William, 2004). Mansions were stage structures used in medieval theatre to represent

specific locations, such as Heaven or Hell, Jerusalem, etc. (Braet, Herman, 1985). Such examples

can be the choir boys section representing heaven and the alter hell. Inside the church, the

audience moved from one mansion to the next to see each scene. A mansion is a scenic façade

that marks the location of the scene (Braet, Herman, 1985). The actors would move between
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these mansions as the play demanded and went on. The acting area of the stage was called the

plateau, and mansions were placed around the plateau. Platea, in medieval theatre, the neutral

acting area of a stage (Medievalchronicles.Com, 2017). In medieval staging, a number of

mansions, or booths, representing specific locations, were placed around the acting area and as

modern drama carried on this type of set became a crucial aspect of the amazing renaissance

medieval theater later to come (Medievalchronicles.Com, 2017).

Which such work of the Mansions and Simultaneous staging, one creative and essential

thing they created was the church utilized the usage of Pageants. Pageants following the concepts

of mansion, was technically in shorter words, a stage on wheels. A pageant wagon is a movable

stage or cart used to take the dramas to the towns (Price, Lindsay, 2011). Due to the dramas high

popularity, they started to become more in demand with the general public and so in order for the

church to expand their agenda, they created pageants in order to cater to towns and carry on

dramas anywhere and on the go. Pageants were primarily used for mystery and miracle plays and

usually carried “cycles” for plays which were plays that lasted quite a few days since they were

long (Braet, Herman, 1985). They catered mostly to events and holidays like the story of nativity

and day by day staging the drama of the nativity and one day after the other showing the story

using the pageant in the middle of the town (Tydeman, William, 2004). Each play was repeated

several times in different parts of town with the help of Pageants, a carriage in the form of a

small house with two vertical rooms; the lower rooms actors got prepared, and in the upper room

they played their parts (Tydeman, William, 2004). The word itself carries some history; coming

from the word “pagyn” which was used to describe a movable stage used to cater to religious

play of any sort (Price, Lindsay, 2011). At first used by the church very little since the church

wanted people to come to the church and not the church to go to them, the pageants grew in
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popularity and were used by secular people for their own plays. Pageants became very essential

for them since they were used to evade the church who was the primary persecute against any

drams that were secular (Medievalchronicles.Com, 2017). The proved to be very essential to

evaded those who were against secular dramas and were very portable. Some very known plays

used by pageants were the three wise men, the very popular “everyman”, the “flight into Egypt”,

and the “birth of Jesus” (Tydeman, William, 2004). As told instead of being staged somewhere

where it stood still, the pageants would eventually be used in a different way of performing.

Staging a drama in towns, it would be viewed as a float going down a parade, acting out as it

moves and most of the times would replay the same ply over and over so everyone got a chance

to see this short skit or drama. Of course, these pageants were heavily decorated in order to keep

the dramas appealing. Technologically speaking, some of the much larger pageants used heavy

machinery advanced at that time. They would use pulleys, functional lifts, fancy décor, and

pillars (Price, Lindsay, 2011). Some sources say that these pageants could be so large that often

times they could not fit in the streets of the villages and cities they

visited(Medievalchronicles.Com, 2017) . Over medieval villages, these pageants could be as tall

as twelve feet and could not fit in arching, over hanging buildings (Medievalchronicles.Com,

2017). Till this day some companies in Europe still like to keep it classical and make pageants

for pays and are still used today with much more modern technological advancements. Some

sources may say that thanks to pageants we had prime examples to follow in order to make our

stages for concerts, movie theaters, any and all media type performances that take place outdoors

or indoors (Medievalchronicles.Com, 2017).

Some logistics of these plays, the church, and the dramas goes as follows. Choir boys,

nuns and priests were the primary first actors after the dark ages. Publicity for starting dramas in
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the churches was all word of mouth and the crowd was so divers one major aspect we can learn

and grasp from these starting dramas in the middle ages was that all types of social and economic

classes attended these dramas in the churches and anywhere that they were. In the crowds you

saw people of higher class, rich and powerful, royalty, sitting next to peasants all smiling and

enjoying the same play (Medievalchronicles.Com, 2017). In that time, you could not have them

in the same room but dramas brought everyone of all backgrounds together

(Medievalchronicles.Com, 2017). Common people did not understand Latin (bible and

scripture), nor read it. So, to ignite interest into a faith that was currently losing to paganism, the

church made its liturgy into plays. Ultimately plays educated the public to strive and learn more,

learning how to read and spark interest in literature and god. As time progressed a common

pattern of love sparked an interest in plays and we saw it play out in a romanticism culture of

love and relationships between men and woman were being influenced. Also as time progressed,

morality plays started to attract more people of intellect and smarts resulting in the fact that these

plays were proving to be essential learning tools for development in leadership aspects.

Although everything seemed dark during the reign of the dark ages and the fall of Rome,

the middle ages proved to be essential growth for humanity during this era of growth. Many

would argue and consider that not much came from this time frame but looking deeply in a lot of

it was a tip of an iceberg that catered down to a whole foundation of fruit. Without the start of

the drama in the middle ages, to the full-blown renaissance of theater, our art would not be the

same it was today. And history shows that the arts ultimately impacted the general public

tremendously in character, growth, morale, and spirituality. Overall performing arts would be a

lot different today if it was not for their great era of growth. The middle ages set the framework

for theater through the ages to allow people like Shakespeare and all his accomplishments to
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come about and make history and a tremendous impact. It all took a foundation and form their

everything took off. The study of theatre in the Middle Ages is the study of communities and

their modes of interaction (Price, Lindsay, 2011); although not known at that time, the simple

fact that different classes were engaging in a common thing was a huge ground-breaking shift

coming from a common roman culture. The arts were essential to the rich culture we have today,

primarily Drama in the middle ages was crucial for entertainment to sprout to what it is today.
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Work Cited and References

1. "Medieval Theatre." Medievalchronicles.Com, 2017,

http://www.medievalchronicles.com/medieval-life/medieval-theatre-images/.

2. Braet, Herman et al. “The Theatre In The Middle Ages”. 1st ed., Leuven, Belgium,

Leuven University Press, 1985. Written Text: Book.

3. Mathews, Brander. "The Medieval Drama." Theatrehistory.Com, 2017,

http://www.theatrehistory.com/medieval/medieval001.html.

4. Price, Lindsay. "Medieval Drama: Spotlight: E-News From Theatrefolk."

Theatrefolk.Com, 2011, https://www.theatrefolk.com/spotlights/medieval-drama.

5. Tydeman, William. “The Theatre In The Middle Ages”. 1st ed., Cambridge, Cambridge

University Press, 2004.Written Text: Book.