How Medieval Theatre changed drama:
-- VERNACULAR (language or dialect spoken by ordinary people) The Church normally used Latin or Greek so drama would help the Church by introducing Vernacular around 1200AD
-- SPECTACLE (a visually striking performance or display)
-- STAGE DIRECTION (an instruction in the text of a play indicating the movement, tone or position of an actor, or the sound effects and the lighting)
-- FARCE (a comic dramatic work using buffoonery and horseplay and typically including crude characterisation and ludicrously improbable situations)
Theatre Staging:
-- MANSION - originated in churches. Small wooden platforms with supports and a roof. Used to represent specific locations (Heaven/Hell). 1actors could move between these mansions. The acting area was called the PLATEA, which the mansions were placed around.
-- PAGEANT WAGONS - used for cycle dramas to hold the mansion, the plateau and a small dressing area. The wagons would move around to different places, rather than the audience move around . Mansions turned to pageant wagons as mansions are difficult to take apart and re-build.
-- CORNISH ROUND - tiered seating (from Greek). Often outdoors, so restricted to time of year. Permanent structures. Elaborate set.
Types of plays at this time:
-- SAINT PLAYS - religious plays/melodramatic.
-- PASSION PLAYS - special holidays. Normally the Passion of Jesus Christ, his trial, suffering and death. Performing in the annual Passion play is generally awarded to the most respected members of a church congregation. (Still exist today - i.e. Nativities)
-- MYSTERY & MIRACLE PLAYS - Based on stories from the Bible. Became more elaborate over time. Became comic to appeal to masses. This annoyed the church and other authorities so were often banned.
-- SECULAR THEATRE - included masques (dance and music interludes by skilled performers between courses of banquets). Christmas carol singing. Travel and tell jokes.
Costumes:
The Decline of Medieval Theatre:
-- Increased interest in classical learning - affected staging and playwritting
-- Social structure was changing - destroyed feudalism and "corporate" nature of communities
-- A break down within the Church led to religious plays being banned in Europe
-- Drama lost its force so professional actors were needed, not amateurs
-- Professional theatre rose and became commercial (no longer a community venture)
-- Religious plays ended - returned to classics for new ideas for stories
(http://novaonline.nvcc.edu/eli/spd130et/medieval.htm)
