Category Archives: Theater

The last transitional stage in England between medieval and modern theater (counting Shakespeare as the start of the modern) was the rise of touring theater companies. There were two types, the sponsored kind that we think was involved in Shakespeare’s … Continue reading →

The pre-eminent name in early Tudor plays is John Heywood’s. Heywood was part of a leading intellectual family, at a time when London had a wealth of aristocratic scholars, when Renaissance learning was at a fever pitch. Heywood himself was … Continue reading →

Late medieval English comedies are called “Interludes,” a name that suggests they were playful interruptions to something else more serious, like a banquet or a longer devotional play. The name seems to suggest most strongly festivities at a banquet, perhaps … Continue reading →

We have something like four hundred examples of 15th century comic theater from France. We usually call these comedies “Farce,” from Latin “farcire,” to stuff. But at the time, they called the plays farce, sottie, or even moralité. A “sot” was … Continue reading →

Modern comedy begins to emerge from medieval piety in the Yorkshire town of Wakefield’s passion play cycle. We don’t know as much about the production at Wakefield, which may have been on wagons as at York. But certain of the … Continue reading →

“The Castle of Perseverance” is a good model for how the basic morality play worked. It’s among the earliest allegorical plays written in English, possibly predating the ban on use of English Bible quotations. It’s also the only play that … Continue reading →

In the decades when the Bubonic Plague visitations were thinning the European population, churches found themselves short of priests. Other skilled trades were just as hard-hit, and for stonemasons it was even worse. But the people cared about having enough … Continue reading →

Medieval court theater could be called “London Meets Las Vegas.” We think of sparkle and feathers and over-the-top spectacle as being in poor taste, but it wasn’t that way at all, then. The court liked a good entertainment; one way … Continue reading →

During this same period, there were Passion plays on Corpus Christi, as well as at Easter, all over Europe. The Passion plays in continental Europe grew much longer than the English versions. The earliest surviving French Passion play, “La Passion … Continue reading →