Theatre History - Medieval

Staging

Pageant Wagon: 

Due to a lack of income, actors had to learn to become mobile to accommodate only performing on Holy Days which were different in each region. The wagon would fold out so staging would be limited as well as the costumes so the actors had to stick to religious stock characters. The only advantage that the actors had over the audience was that they were standing above the audience. The wagons stopped at key locations in the towns and moved the wagon after each scene allowing more people to see the piece creating chain theatre. Fixed stages were more common though, in Europe such as in mansions are as in Rome in amphitheatres.

Acting

The actors used simple language so the audience would easily understand the characters and relate to them. Religious stock characters were used such as Jesus, Satan, and God whom the audience would recognise. The actor would physically face the audience when speaking and declare who they are such as "I am a Good Man" which would help the audience to define the character's relationship to other characters. They would move heroically and their movements would be exaggerated by exclusively male actors.

Popular Plays

The majority of plays were religious in nature due to the Catholic Church's control over the majority of things in medieval Europe. There were three types of plays, all of which suggested a commitment to the Church:

Mystery Plays: Bible stories such as the Birth of Jesus, The Wise Men, Flight Into Egypt.

Miracle Plays: About the lives of saints and miracles they performed.

Morality Plays: Began with the rise of towns and were about virtues and vices such as fellowship, good deeds, and death.

Why did people go? 

Religion was the most powerful force and Christianity dominated lives despite the majority of people being able to understand the sermons due to them being taught in Latin which for the majority of the population was not their first language nor one they could thoroughly understand. The church needed to get the messages from the Bible across to the general laity hence short plays were introduced during sermons which eventually moved onto church steps and then ultimately the aforementioned pageant wagons. They were performed on Holy Days which meant that everyone could watch them as no-one was working.

Basis/Past

Theatre was banned by the church in the 5th century and then was brought back in the 9th century as short scenes during Mass starting in France and then expanding around Europe. These were brief plays to show important points such as Easter and Christmas. These performances soon got bigger so were moved out of the church and instead onto their steps.

Costume

The church provided the costume when the plays were performed in church, however, as touring companies became more popular the costumes had to be provided by the actors themselves. They were simple as they had to be transported and actors were, for the most part, poor.