Medieval Drama

Characteristics
 Folk plays: dances, fighting,
buffoonery, some dramatic action.
 Conventional set of characters from
popular tradition, like St George,
Robin Hood, Maid Marian, and the
Green Dragon.
 But the real medieval drama grew up
from the regular services of the
church.
The audience
 Illiterate
 Unquestioning, though superficial,
faith
 Deep emotions
 No knowledge of Latin
 Very rough idea of Biblical stories.
 So, dramatizing the services was a
need.
A steady process
 First, stories related to special occasions
were chosen (Easter, Xtmas.)
 Then, French replaced Latin, and later on,
English became the dominant language.
 Priests lost hold of the representations, and
were replaced by “actors”.
 Finally, the trade-guilds assumed entire
charge.
List of plays commonly included
 The fall of Lucifer
 The creation of the world and Adam’s fall
 Noah and the flood
 Abraham and Isaac, and the promise of
Christ’s coming
 Procession of prophets
 Main events of the Gospels’ stories
 Judgement Day
 Each cycle as a whole has a natural epic unity,
centering about the majestic theme of the spiritual
history and the final judgment of all Mankind.
 Comic treatment was given to the Bible scenes and
characters themselves.
 Often, to accommodate the great crowds, there were
several 'stations' at convenient intervals.
 The plays were always composed in verse.
 The medieval lack of historic sense gives to all the
plays the setting of the authors' own times
 Noah’s Flood
 Verses 1-9 God’s decision
 9-16 Causes
 25… description of the ark
 35… Who will be saved
 53… Women’s roles, men’s roles
 99-112 Interpolation
 113… God’s instructions
 137--- Use of symbolic numbers
 Stage direction after verse 160: animals on the
ark.
 193… Noah and his wife: her refusal.
 209 The sons try to convince her.
 Stage direction after verse 244
 “Funny” scene
 Stage directions along verses 260-300
 333 God’s blessings
 348… The covenant