Theatre

From Medieval Wiki

By Alison Zilversmit and Kevin Grundy

Medieval Theatre

A Medieval Theatre, AZ

For the medieval theatre, the most festive time was during the planting and harvest season. The priests seemed to take over the theatre, so most plays were about religion and the church. The plays were a way to tell the stories of the Bible; at first, the plays were about Jesus and his followers which only the priests took part in. Eventually more people participated, and the plays moved out of the church's control. There were two kinds of plays: moveable and fixed. Besides the plays, there were also troubadors ( a group of nomadic actors and jesters)even though they had skills, they did not perform in plays, but they did preform at festivals and such.

"'If a person were to try stripping the disguises from actors while they play a scene upon stage, showing to the audience their real looks and the faces they were born with, would not such a one spoil the whole play ? And would not the spectators think he deserved to be driven out of the theatre with brickbats, as a drunken disturber ?... Now what else is the whole life of mortals but a sort of comedy, in which the various actors, disguised by various costumes and masks, walk on and play each one his part, until the manager waves them off the stage ? Moreover, this manager frequently bids the same actor to go back in a different costume, so that he who has but lately played the king in scarlet now acts the flunkey in patched clothes. Thus all things are presented by shadows.'" Erasmus The Praise in Folly

Medieval drama (a form of live Art)came from liturgy and began in the 11th century. They were at first placed inside of church and were 'performed as liturgy. These plays were called Liturgical plays. Then they moved to market places or around town where they became Secular plays. Secular means non-religious. For more on the religion of the Medival Ages, click here

Secular plays had two types that helped secular plays grow more loved, farce and interlude. Interlude plays were skits normally held between meals in a banquet. Farce plays were comical and normally based on folk tales. Interludes were skits normally held between meals in a banquet.

Actors from around, AZ

There were three types of plays, Mystery, Miracle, and Mortality plays. In the Mystery plays they told stories of the Bible, like the Birth of Jesus, the Flight Into Egypt, and The Wise Men. This was usually performed in a comedy. They had several presentations, that were placed all over town, and the audience would go from stage to stage, presentation to presentation. This is when plays were performed in the local language in the 1300's instead of Latin .The Miracle plays were about the lives of the saints and the miracles they did. Like mystery plays, the presentations were all over town and the audience moved. Morality plays were about fellowship,death, and good deeds. They were mostly performed in Cathedrals and churches.

For more on the three types of plays click here

Following a similar pattern of the mystery plays were the York plays, in the York cycle. The Yorks plays were also influennced with bibical stories and also included heroes, such as St. George (English folk hero). The York cycle began in the fourteenth century and was presented in English. On the streets of a city, a public square, or for amateur actors, town halls, is where you would see these plays. In these York plays there was three hundred speaking parts.

Actors

An actor performing a monologue, AZ

"Acting is a form of deception, and actors can mesmerize themselves almost as easily as an audience." R. Buckminster Fuller

A show is nothing without it actors, for who else would perform the play? Unfortunately, no actors' names were recorded and are available today. But, we do know things about what type of actors were in which plays and what type of people were the actors. In 1350, toward the beginning of drama in the medieval ages, the laymen and guilds were the actors instead of the clerics (a member of the clergy) and priests. Laymen are people who aren't doing a certain profession. Secular plays were played by profesional actors, like the Morality plays. Liturgical plays were played by presits because they were considered part of liturgy. Mystery and Miracle plays were played by clerics. In the pageant wagons (moving show), the townspeople were the actors.

Jesters

From the desk of Alison Zilversmit, A Jester

There, in a marketplace, you see a man with an elaborate costume, dancing around in front of a crowd, telling jokes, singing songs, pleasing them as it is his job. As the crowd cheers he begins to stop dancing and starts critisizing the politics. There's no one to stop him, to tell him he's wrong, the man speaks his mind and says what he pleases, he is allowed to. This man can be seen in a castle too, surrounded by Lords of this, Dukes of that, and Kings of no where. This man, the entertainer, is the jester.

The idea of jesters started in Ancient Rome with their comedy actors. They resembled the Medieval ones very, much. In the summers they would wear multicolored costumes and a harp, traveling from town to town, place to place. Sometimes they were forced to run away to the counrtyside because of the way they spoke their minds. They would search for new audiences and better freedom of speech.

Something similar to a jester was a juggler, who also told jokes and stories. A juggler was highly skilled in not only juggling but also song, dance, jokes, stories and many more tricks. You may think that jugglers only juggled balls, but they also juggled knives, flaming torches and any other available item. A common pattern for juggling was the cascade, in which the items used would go in a figure eight pattern. A juggler wouldn't only use his hands but also his knee's, head, and feet.

Minstrels

A minstrel could be seen in multi-colored costumes with a harp or a viol (a viol was a small version of a violin, but with a higher pitch). Minstrels would sing crude songs and ride on a mule from town to town. They liked to sing about heroes.

A minstrel playing to a Queen, AZ

When a minstrel was in a village, a crowd would gather and even kings, lords, princes and ladies would attend the show. Minstrels and troubadours were fairly similar. In a letter someone wrote: "Many of your love verses to me," writes Hélöise to Abelard, "were so beautiful in their language and melody that your name was incessantly in the mouths of all, and even the most illiterate were charmed. You caused women to envy me. Every tongue spoke of your Hélöise; every street and every house resounded with my name." [1] This letter made minstrels all the more popular, which raised their social status. They made a "H.Q." of sorts in Paris. Supposedly "two members of the [minstrel] fraternity alone could afford to build a church and a hospital in the street they inhabited."