Medieval Theatre

As theatre evolved from the ancient world of Greco-Roman civilisation in Europe (not forgetting the course of development through Africa, Asia and America), chorus became less popular and dialogue more prevalent, with song, dance and accompanying music present.

The church had a strange relationship with theatre. Along with other figures over the course of history, such as prime minister Oliver Cromwell, the church have banned theatre on multiple occasions. After the fall of the Roman empire and the rise of Christianity, theatre began to be viewed as no longer innocent entertainment, divine worship, or intellectual viewing, but paganist and worldly activities that were against the church. Over the following centuries, official performances died out - with theatres not permitted to operate, performance turned to more primitive times, using travelling shows (on wagons as in the image above, acting the nativity story) and the outdoors to perform instead. Guilds (of different trades and skills) regularly put on plays on stories of their own of from the Bible as a way to advertise - the carpenters' guild for example often chose the story of Noah's Arc. This outside style of theatre on smaller stages also marked the beginning of different types of staging, like promenade. Players (now known as actors) were seen as vagabonds and criminals and could be jailed - many pubs in London still maintain old signage forbidding the entry of vagabonds and players (as two equals). 

Quite hypocritically, the church transformed theatre into a new method of evangelism - in 925 AD the first known liturgical drama was written by St Benedictine monks in St Gallen in Switzerland, called 'Quem Quaeritis,' or 'Whom do you seek?'. Theatre had been resurrected to tell stories and preach (such as that of Easter or Christmas), again displaying its most fundamental use of communication and celebration of ideas. Cromwell later banned theatre in 1642 (post-Shakespearean) before its return in 1660, as he viewed it as a distraction from God. By the 18th century, a theatrical Renaissance started independent of the Church, which led to our modern day cultural view. 

Continuing to tie the church to theatre, we can discuss the theatrical elements of the Christianity. Any mass or service is essentially a performance. The church structure has an audience section and a stage (chancel) with entrances and exits, green rooms (vestry, for the priest or main actor), raised platforms for levels (pulpit), with the whole set ornately decorated. The priest and other performance or audience use gestures (prayer hands or crosses), props (candles, holy water), movements, facial expressions, body language, silence, tone of voice, pace and so many theatrical skills to engage in this performance. This helps to portray ideas (especially in the case of liturgical drama and not just regular services) to an audience. These ideas need to be able to be spread far, and bypass language barriers so as to be able to preach to anyone, or for any Christian to attend a service at any church. Most church-goers were lowly peasants, with a limited linguistic knowledge, especially of the Latin most Catholic texts were written in - gestures and movements were far easier to understand and communicate to others.

Here is a link to a website detailing the history of Christian theatre -

https://www.christianheritageedinburgh.org.uk/2016/08/20/rise-of-christian-theatre-in-ad-925/<br>

EXERCISE 1

After showing a small scene of a theatrical moment in a religious (in particular Christian church) setting, for which we chose a scene from an American 'mega-church', we were tasked to act out a scene from the Bible in a way that could easily portray the story to a group of people possibly of different religious backgrounds, cultures, languages and more. Our group chose the story of the Good Samaritan, as one that could easily be shown, even without dialogue. After recapping the story, we began acting. 

Here is some research on the story itself - 

- https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=luke%2010:25-37&version=NIV is a link to Luke 10:25 - 37 in the Bible, the chapter that tells the parable of the Good Samaritan.

- The story, like Greek myth, gives the viewer a moral lesson - when acted out this becomes a powerful tool for religion.

There were two main types of liturgical drama - mystery and miracle play. Mystery plays focused on the stories of the Bible, whereas miracle plays were based on the stories of Saints. The following play, Everyman, is an extended and combined version of these two genres, known as a morality play. After theatre was banned then adopted and remoulded by the church, it shifted to this genre that was not condoned by the church, as it took characters such as God and Death less seriously, although it still did have a strong moral message - the weakening connection to religion is what caused anger around it.

EVERYMAN

Everyman was a moral play of the 15th century, possibly a translation of a previous Dutch play, 'Elckerlijc,' that uses allegorical characters such as God or Good Deeds, Death, and Everyman to examine the question of Christian salvation, and what it means or requires. The play has a strong Christian message of faith and lays down morals and a method to get to heaven. This style of play also shows an introduction of other techniques as play writing becomes more sophisticated - longer monologues, narration, breaking out of the plot with characters like the Doctor (explaining that Good Deeds are the only thing Everyman could have taken to heaven) and more tools show how theatre now makes more sophisticated points and more influential than ever before.

It was later adapted by poet and playwright Carol Anne Duffy into a script in a more modern dialect and with a more modern context. Centuries later it retains the moral message, warning people to behave. This also raises the question of writer's purpose - does it mock or support Christianity? The playwright was raised Catholic by her parents but is now atheist and lesbian. Or is religion not the important theme, but simply the morals of people, and how we, even in the modern day, can't take anything but 'good deeds' to the next life - family, friends and material goods mean nothing, as Everyman finds out when Death tells him he will die. Rather than a stronger Christian message, it encourages people to be nice to others and be less obsessed with objects.

The comedy of this adaptation, from witty jokes, funny characters, rapping and more also shows the emergence of a more non-naturalistic, Brechtian style (if it indeed resembles the original play) in the Medieval era. More sophisticated theatre can make clearer points than before, with this rug-pull effect in particular.