The Beginnings of English Drama

• English Drama has its roots in religious rituals.

• As early as the fifth century living tableaux were introduced into
sacred services. The plays originated as simple tropes, verbal
embellishments of liturgical texts, and slowly became more
elaborate.
• The «Quem quaeritis?» is the best known early form of the dramas, a
dramatised liturgical dialogue between the angel at the tomb of Christ and the
women who are seeking his body. This liturgical play is in the form of a
dialogue between the women and the angel at the empty tomb of the risen
Christ. The «three Marys» come to Christ’s tomb on the third day after his
crucifixion in order to clean his wounds but they couldn’t find his body. Upon
this, an angel asks them and the dialogue goes on as in the following.
 The Quem quaeritis Trope
Angel: "Whom seek ye in the sepulchre, O Christians? "
Women: "Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified, O angel."
Angel: "He is not here, He has arisen as He foretold:
Go, announce that He has arisen from the grave. "
• This was the whole text.
• At about the beginning of the 11th century it began to be acted out
during the service of the morning prayer. The brief scene was
gradually expanded with priests, nuns and choirboys taking part.
• These primitive forms were later elaborated with dialogue and dramatic action.
Eventually the dramas moved from church to the exterior – the churchyard and
to the city centers and the public marketplace. These early performances were
given in Latin, and were preceded by a vernacular prologue spoken by a herald
who gave a synopsis of the events. The writers and directors of the earliest plays
were probably monks.
There are three types of plays in medieval England. These are:
• 1. Mystery play
• 2. Miracle play
• 3. Morality play
• Mystery plays and miracle plays (they are distinguished as two different
forms although the terms are often used interchangeably) are among the
earliest formally developed plays in medieval Europe. Mystery plays were
not clearly distinguished from miracle plays in the Middle Ages, but later
the term ‘mystery’ was associated with biblical themes and the term
‘miracle’ with the lives of saints.
 Mystery Play
• Mystery play is a medieval drama based on scriptural incidents
such as the Creation, Adam and Eve, the murder of Abel, the Flood,
or the life, death, and resurrection of Christ and the Last Judgment.
• The mystery plays, usually representing biblical subjects, developed
from plays presented in Latin by churchmen on church premises
and depicted stories taken from the Old and New Testament.
• Mystery Plays originated in the Middle Ages, during the twelfth
century, from the lack of interest from the churchgoers in the
typical church services and their ignorance of the Latin language.
This problem prompted the elaboration of certain services.
• These plays became popular as a source of both religious
instruction and entertainment. They made the mysteries of God
and the history of Christianity feel more present and accessible.
• They are most commonly known as the ‘mystery plays’ for two reasons:
Firstly, they took the mysteries of God as their primary themes. Secondly,
these plays were organised, funded and produced by guilds, which were
also called ‘mysteries’ in the Middle Ages. In other words, at that time, the
word mystery meant “trade” or “craft”. As these plays were performed by
the trade guilds after they were banned in churches, they were named after
these guilds.
• During the thirteenth century Mystery plays gained less support from
religious figures due to their questionable religious values.
• In 1210, suspicious of the growing popularity of miracle plays, Pope
Innocent III issued a papal edict forbidding clergy from acting on a public
stage. Once this happened and the performances were free from the
church, the strong religious themes started to disappear. Besides, this had
the effect of transferring the organization of the dramas to town guilds,
after which several changes followed. Vernacular texts replaced Latin, and
non-Biblical passages were added along with comic scenes.