Theatre in the Middle Ages served a Christian society by dramatizing for an audience of all classes the historical, doctrinal, and ethical dimensions of their faith in a lively, supremely relevant art form.

These plays began in the churches themselves—dramatic exchanges among the priest, congregation, and choir.  As they grew, they moved out into the churchyard becoming increasingly secularize and moving into the streets.

Performance were generally part of the great church festivals of Whitsuntide or Corpus Christi, each play performed by different trade guilds, often on separate wagons.

Miracle Plays

          Miracle plays dealt primarily with the miracles of the saints, but this term was often (from the 12^th century onward) interchangeable with mystery play.

Mystery Plays

          The word “mystery” in this context refers to the spiritual mystery of Christ’s redemption of mankind, and mystery plays dramatize incidents of the Old Testament, which foretell redemption, and of the New, which recount it.

          They were generally composed in cycles containing as many as 48 individual plays, typically beginning with creation and ending with the last judgment.

          The Second Shepherd’s Play (ca. 1385)—finest example of English mystery play

Morality Plays

Morality plays, more overtly didactic but both sharing rough humor, evolved side by side with Mystery plays, but employing allegory to dramatize the moral struggle that Christianity envisions as present in every person.

          Separate characters represent “everyman,” plus the various     qualities within, such as good, evil, greed, love, etc.  

          Everyman (ca. 1485)—finest example of English morality play

By the sixteenth century, theatre in England had become secularized.  The guides were giving way to acting companies that found patrons among the nobility or even royalty.

The theatres themselves had evolved from stages on wagons to inn courtyards to converted bull-bating and bear-bating arenas.  Shakespeare’s Globe theatre was one such conversion.  It had a uncurtained thrust stage with a balcony over a backstage area that offered several curtained entrances.  NO scenery was used, except that the “sky” was painted on the ceiling under the balcony.  The stage contained one or two trap doors.

Plays were also performed at court, in the palaces of kings, queens and dukes. This tradition was an outgrowth of the masque.  Masques began as a costumed ball designed around a theme and evolved into a full-length play, often with music.

Costuming was always contemporary and teenage boys played all female roles because women were not allowed to be actors.

By the end of the century, the Puritans had gained enough influence that they, coupled with the business leaders of London who were trying to prevent their employees from attending the theatre rather than show up for work, were a constant threat with their attempts to close the theatres—arguing sinfulness and disease.

A new interest in classical—ancient Greek and Roman—literature during the Renaissance also brought with it a new interest in classical theatre.  Hence, the comedies and tragedies of Shakespeare and his contemporaries adhered, to a great extent, to the guidelines as set down by Aristotle.

Shakespeare also wrote a third type of play—the history play, some of which are also tragedies.

Tragedies:                  Comedies:                                    Histories:

Hamlet                       Twelfth Night                               Henry IV part 1

Othello                       The Merchant of Venice             Henry IV part 2

Macbeth                    The Tempest                                Henry V

King Lear                  A Midsummer Night’s Dream     Julius Caesar