Medieval Theatre

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

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

the choir would enact small segments of the bible to eventually become short drama performances , priests or members of  In the beginning, the

liturgical dramas

were performed in Latin

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

the people because the were performed in the everyday speech of

Medieval Drama

3 types of religious plays were popular in the Medieval Period 

Mystery (cycle) Plays:

New Testament dramatized biblical events from Adam and Eve in the Old Testament through the stories of Christ in the  

Miracle (cycle) Plays:

of Saints dramatized the lives

Morality Plays:

used religious characters and themes to teach a moral lesson

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

Pageant Wagon

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.

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

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.

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!