Monthly Archives: October 2020

“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 →

Many towns and cities in Europe also put on plays for Corpus Christi Day, but they didn’t evolve in the peripatetic-wagon direction that northern England did. Instead, they created temporary, then increasingly permanent, theaters in large public squares. As the … Continue reading →

There are four York plays devoted to the end of Mary’s life: her death, her burial, her soul’s rising into heaven (the Assumption), and her coronation as Queen of Heaven. While these events were not strictly part of the story … Continue reading →

The main story of Corpus Christi day closed with the Ascension of Jesus into heaven, some plays about Mary that I’ll get to next, and last and at the very end of time: Judgment Day. The last stories had a … Continue reading →

Five fairly short plays comprise the scenes that show us Jesus’ rising from the dead. Dramatically, they are all anti-climactic after the cross and the harrowing of Hell. The Resurrection is not shown by a sudden appearance; it is discussed … Continue reading →