Medieval to Renaissance – Japanese Noh Theatre

Medieval to Renaissance Theatre – Japanese Noh Theatre

Introduction

Many people regard European theatre and its traditions as the centre for change in dramatic focus and forms but the major movement towards a Renaissance Theatre probably happen first in Japan in the form of the Noh Theatre. Traditional Japanese theatre has three major forms Noh Theatre, Bunraku Puppet Theatre and Kabuki Theatre.

日本の伝統的な劇場は3主要な形態能楽堂、文楽人形劇場、歌舞伎座があります。

Although this workshop and this material concentrates on Noh Theatre, it is useful to look at the following videoclip to get an idea of these three traditional forms of Japanese Theatre. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_T5RqW8TWWY

Noh Theatre is a Japanese form of mask theatre developed during the 14^th Century.

能楽堂は14世紀中に開発マスク劇場の日本の形です。

It uses a number of dance-drama forms. Normally in Noh, there is masked drama, dance and music, two main actors, a chorus (6 - 12), three musicians, masks, splendid costumes, few props and a simple stage. The main character in Noh is called a shite and the subsidiary or side-character is called a waki. Quite often a Chorus is evident which functions in much the same way that a Greek Chorus does. Some of the elements that categorize Noh are its slow and controlled style, it elongated or extended vocal sounds and the stylized movements of the feet and hands. To introduce Noh, teachers may want students to look at the following video links. The first is a lecture with demonstrations of vocal , movement and characters aspects of Noh Theatre:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PoC2N2C4K84

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTv8uM_jmmI

Some Noh Theatre History

In the Mid-13^th century, Noh started to evolve as a more structured and codified theatre form out of a number of folk and court performance and storytelling forms. Some of these would have been mask and puppet based performance forms. But the spectacle, rituals, stories, characters and performing artistry of the Noh was much more sophisticated than anything that had existed in Japan before.

By the 14^th century in the Japanese city of Kyoto, Dengaku-no-No had started. Here is a description of an early performance:

“Two companies were competing against one another, each actors being sumptuously dressed, powered and painted, and with blackened teeth. Sarugaku actors leapt and twirled. The spectators were so carried away in excitement that the stamping of their feet began to manifest their delight, resulting in the stands collapsing. Panic ensued, robbers took advantage of it and swords were drawn from their scabbards. The celebration ended in bloodshed.” (Frederick 1972:222)

·      Kanami Kiyotsugu (born 1333 died1384) was an important early founder of Noh Theatre.

かなみ清次（ 生まれ1333 年には 1384 年に死亡）は、能楽堂の重要な初期創設者だった。

·      His son Zeami (born 1363 died 1443) wrote Noh theatre dramas and writings on the theory and technique of Noh Drama.

息子世阿弥は、（生まれ1363年には1443年に死亡）能楽劇の理論と技術に能舞台のドラマや文章を書きました。

·      The l5th Century was the golden age for Noh and the dominant audience were samurais.

·      Some plays were about war and others were about spirits and spiritual release

·      Ordinary people were denied seeing Noh by law by the 17 century.

Forms of the Noh Plays

There are 5 major forms of Noh Drama plays

能楽ドラマ演劇の5つの主要な形態があります。:

1.    God plays 神ドラマ

2.    Warrior-ghost plays 戦士と幽霊ドラマ

3.    Women plays 女性のドラマ

4.    Plays of Insanity 狂気ドラマ

5.    Demon plays. 悪魔ドラマ

The action in a Noh play is normally done retrospectively or as a recollection and often a poetic or dreamlike quality is thus often evident. Traditionally, all forms were performed in the one day with a sixth form of ritual or drama called an Okina performed first which had more of a religious purpose. Today individual play forms are often performed on their own.

1.    God Plays – The first scene is a shite in the first scene where a simple story is told or poem recited about the origin of the shrine or theatre. After interval the story of the individual god is often told. Here is a clip of a modern cross-cultural God Play: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zL7Ys1yDt8U

2.    Warrior or Ghost Plays – These plays centre on the warriors of the Gengji-Heike clan and often tell the stories of famous battles. Often ghost warriors appear and they relive their last battles. Here is a clip of a Ghost Play scene: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lu5Vn1vQ5i4

3.    Woman Plays – Plays that deal with women of the Heian Period (781-1189) normally portrayed as beautiful and in glorious costumes.

4.    Insanity Plays – Dealing with a variety of characters (often females) and showing different types of madness or insanity.

5.    Demon Plays deal with both good demons (brining blessings to humans) and others evil demons (bringing evil but they are usually subdued by humans in the end of the play). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QaUDr9G7oOY

Noh Play Structure

A Noh play normally has three sections or paths - Jo-ha-kyū      序破急

·      Jo (slow, dignified and uses simple rhythms and movements)

·      Ha (pace is built and some sharper movements appear)

·      Kyu (short, sharp movements and gestures are indicative of Kyu)

So a Noh play may have the Dramatic Structure of:

In the opening Jo sequence we see the entrance of a subsidiary character (waki) and once he is introduced then he gives away the plot or his reason for being there. Then the waki character goes to travel somewhere and we may hear a travel-song (michiyuki), sung by the chorus who are positioned at the side of the stage. The waki then arrives at his destination. Then the main character or protagonist (shite), enters (sometimes accompanied by other characters. The characters talk and the whole plot of the whole play is revealed along with the themes and tensions that exist. The following clip has the opening Jo sequence at the beginning. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LIVV3wWHWYU

Drumming normally changes signal that the middle sequence or Ha has begun. The Shite dances a stylized set of actions or movement which re-enactments previous events. This is a kuse.

A Kyogen comic interlude is then performed by comic characters who speak in everyday, informal language. Sometimes Kyogen plays are also performed on their own outside their structure and place in Noh Drama. The following is a videoclip of a Kyogen sequence: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yl5S1qI4G8U

The final and most dramatic section is called Kyu and involves the protagonist appearing in his/her real form and a climatic dance.

Acting and Movement in Noh Theatre

The actors in Noh Theatre are male.

能楽堂での俳優が男性である。

An excellent account of Noh training and performing can be found in Monica Bethe and Karen Brazell’s account, 'The Practice of Noh Theatre', (Schechner 1990). One activity which can be adapted to use with students is using Zeami’s Kyui nine degrees of artistry. While these levels are very complex in their original forms, I find I can give students a taste of these through using the image in the brackets to help them visualize and attain movements to give them a sense of the form. Levels 9, 8, 7 and 6 tend to be faster and with more movement while levels 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1 tend to slower, fuller and with less movement.

Some movements are made primarily with the feet and legs and other movements are made primarily with the hands and arms.

いくつかの動きは主に足と脚や他の動きは、主に手や腕で作られていて作られています。

9.         The violent and corrupt style: the art of crudity and coarseness (a storm, crashing waves or a cut snake –

嵐、波をクラッシュしたり、カットヘビ)

8.          The powerful and violent style: the art of strength and crudity

         (a moving mountain, a giant throwing trees, a bear)

7.          The powerful & meticulous style: the art of strength & delicacy

         (like Tai Chi movements, pulling & pushing, a crane taking off)

6.          The superficial but ornamental style: the art of faint patterns

         (painting a delicate painting, wind in the trees, a flamingo)

5.          The ample and precise style: the art of versatility and precision

         (a deer moving in the woods, firing an arrow)

4.          The style of the genuine flower: the art of the flower of correctness (a flower opening and following the sun)

3.          The style of the serene flower: the art of the flower of stillness

         (a flower collecting the last rays of sunlight or gentle rain)

2.          The style of the flower - high and deep: the art of the flower of profundity (a flower drawing energy from its roots as it opens gently)

1 .          The style of the marvelous flower: the art of the flower of mystery (a flower in stillness ready to bloom)

The Theatre and the Staging

Students can do research projects on the staging of Noh drama. Briefly, In Noh, a small stage leads out to the main stage in Noh via a catwalk. The main stage is normally 30 square meters in area. The following website has a lot of information and pictures of Noh Theatre staging.

http://www.the-noh.com/en/world/stage.html

Noh Masks and Characters

There are over sixty different basic types of Noh Theatre Masks and over 200 different kinds in use. I have found that Noh mask is good as a research process or students can make or paint their own masks.

http://www.the-noh.com/en/world/mask.html

http://www.casaasia.eu/actividad_infantil/detalle?id=17716

Costumes in Noh Drama

Students can also research Noh theatre and even Kyogen theatre costumes. The costumes are often elaborate with silver and embroidery. The symbolism of the colours is another area for students to research. A good website for students to start at is:

http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/nohc/hd_nohc.htm

Voice, Sounds and Music in Noh Drama

Music is integral to Noh drama. Students can research and experiment with the three elements of Noh: vocal (actors and the chorus), woodwind (primarily flute playing) and percussion (various drums). Try:

http://www.the-noh.com/en/world/chant.html

http://www.the-noh.com/en/world/music.html

Noh Dance and Movement

Dance and movement is a crucial part of the Noh. Slow symbolic movements are often seen as stylistically characterizing Noh as a form. Some interesting websites for research are below but many of the exercises late concentrate on movement aspects.

http://www.the-noh.com/en/world/danceform.html

http://www.the-noh.com/en/world/dance.html

Cross-Cultural Link to Japanese Theatre

In Australia, students at the upper levels or in IB Theatre programs might want to research connections in Western art and theatre which have connections to Japanese Theatre. I have had VCE students who have examined this and even IB Theatre students who have done it as research for their Extended Essay. Yeats was interested in Noh drama he wrote five 'Noh plays'. Brecht was influenced by Kabuki and some of his alienation techniques were developed from Japanese theatre techniques. The French theatre of Jacques Copeau and Jean-Louis Barrault were influenced by Noh Drama and both used it in their drama and in their actor training. Some modern plays of Yukio Mishima and Tadashi Suzuki have mixed tradition and modern, eastern and western traditions in their work. The work of these people or work in the area of cross cultural form and aesthetics is interesting.

Zen and Tao – Exercises in Noh Theatre

Noh Posture

The first aspect of Noh is to find the posture. Here is one description bu Noh performer and teacher Sakurama Kintaro:

''You should stand erect, your head perfectly straight, puling your thin back as far as possible. If you pull back your chin your whole body - not only the line of your neck - will be naturally straight. The shoulders should be relaxed, but the arms kept at the sides and held in a gentle arc so that the elbows will not sag-..You should let your strength flow into your abdomen without making any conscious effort to do so. As long as you maintain a steady posture your strength will naturally flow there… the small of the back, like the chin should be pulled back somewhat, but you must avoid protruding the buttocks…” (Keene 1966:71-72)

Noh Breathing Exercise

Begin by rocking the body slightly back and forth, slowly, in decreasing arcs, until you settle at your center of gravity. The mind is in the hara, mouth is closed, tongue pressed on the upper palate. Students should initially breath through the nose and experiencing the breath. Students then are instructed to steady and stabilize the mind by counting the breath. Each inhalation and each exhalation is counted. Inhale and at the end of the inhalation, count one. Exhale and at the end of the exhalation, count two. Count up to ten and then start all over again. Counting focuses the mind and the breath.

The Position of the Hands, Arms and Elbows in Noh

Men’s elbows should not touch their torso. Their should be room enough for a ball in the armpit. Women should actually keep the elbows in making actual contact with the body. Both men and women should put the hands on the upper thighs with the fingers lightly touching.

Noh Walking

Walk on the heels and slightly curve up the toes and bend the knees as little as possible when walking. Try to make contact with the floor for most of the time and make the step suri ashi or sliding in its motion. Forward walking always starts with the left foot and walking backward always starts with the right foot.

Mini Noh Theatre Using Symbolic and Stylised Movement

Noh theatre is all about finding slow, stylized, symbolic movements. I often use fans as a element and prop to help students find stylized movement. The movements should be done with a neutral face or students can always use a neutral mask during some of this work.

1.    I always get students to start with everyday gestures that have a symbolic aspect or are easily understood or ‘read’ but get students to do these actions slower than in real life and to hold them for longer. I get students to try ‘stop’, ‘come closer’, ‘be quiet’, ‘go away’ and ‘I love you’. Students then slow these gestures even more.

2.    Students then can be led to find ways to show emotions without using facial expression. The gestures should display or show the emotion in movement. Sometimes students find this difficult so I sometimes allow them to use facil expressions initially and then I get them to try to express the emotion without the facial expression. Some expression that work are: happiness, sadness, surprise, anger, fear, disgust, shyness and madness (craziness).

3.    It is at this point that I get students to use a paper fan (cheap Chinese fans can be found for about $2.00). I ask the students to repeat some of the everyday movements and the emotions they did earlier to see which work with the fan. Read out the following words and students do actions for each word.

Words: Old, young, pond, frog, pond, light, moon flower, shadow, creep, forest, winds, rage and leaves. 古い、若い、池、カエル、池、光、月の花、影、クリープ、森、風、怒りと葉。

4.    Get into groups of three, four or five people.

3、4または5人のグループに入る。    

Come to the teacher and get a haiku poem.

先生に来て、俳句の詩を得る。

As a group, you are going to develop a short Noh drama based on haiku poem.

グループとして、俳句詩に基づいて、短い能楽劇を開発しようとしている。

One person should read the poem and the other people should act out or create movements for each line of the poem.

一人は詩を読んで、他の人が演じるか、詩の各行の動きを作成する必要があります。

Please use the fans to help create objects, things, animals or elements in your performance.

あなたのパフォーマンスオブジェクト、物事、動物または要素を作成するためのファンを使用してください。

Here are the haiku poems:

Frog poem (1680’s) 

by Matsuo Bashō

(English)

An old silent pond

A frog jumps into the pond

Splash! Silence again.

(Romaji)

Furu ike ya
kawazu tobikomu
mizu no oto

 (Kanji)
古池や蛙飛こむ水のおと

(Hiragana)
ふるいけやかわずとびこむみずのおと

Barnhouse or Storehouse poem (1690’s)

by Mizuta Masahide

(English)

My storehouse burnt down,
There is nothing to obstruct
The moon-view

(Romaji)

kura yakete sawaru mono naki tsukimi kana

(Hiragana)

蔵焼けて 障るものなき 月見哉

Over the Wintry Forest (1320’s)

by Natsume Soseki

Over the Wintry

Forest, winds howl in rage

With no leaves to blow.

 

It is important to make sure that students know that there is never a right or correct gesture. Emphasise that difference is good. With the use of paper fan (Chinese or Japanese) create a short movement sequence, which has a beginning, development and a conclusion, and a way of expressing either revenge, jealousy or lost love (of a child or lover). These are common themes of Noh. Ideally, Noh flute music should be played to accompany this exercise.

5.    The same exercises can be repeated using a fan but a student can do this while another reads a haiku or other Japanese poetry.

Some Other Ideas for Using Noh Theatre in the Drama Classroom

·      Read through Noh Stories or Japanese Folktales.

·      Use some stories from Noh Theatre in the classroom as the basis for movement pieces, narrated or Reader’s Theatre or full theatre pieces. Some stories are available on the following websites:

http://www.noh-kyogen.com/story/english.html

http://www.the-noh.com/en/plays/index.html

·      Analyze the Noh stories for their classical Noh Theatre structure jo, ha and kyu. Use Noh Theatre structural and stylistic elements and apply them to another ‘Western’ or ‘Australian’ play. More general principals or stylistic aspects of Noh Drama can be used for famous stories like those used in Shakespeare. Suggestions could include: ‘Antony and Cleopatra’, ‘Julius Caesar’, ‘Romeo and Juliet’, ‘Henry VIII’, ‘Jandamarra’, ‘Burke and Wills’ or ‘Gough Whitlam’.

▪       Try using the imagery and poetry of Noh Theatre stories or haiku as the basis for still images/frozen pictures or tableaux. These can also be done to summarize the plot or show the major sequence in the plot of lomger Noh Theatre pieces.

▪       Drums, percussion instruments or even using their own bodies to create percussive elements can be used to accompany a performance or even to create a Noh style music piece.

▪       Teach or imitate Noh Theatre movements from a video

▪       Make, paint and decorate masks in a Noh Theatre style

Do work to Noh Theatre music using fans. This can also be extended to use section from Noh Theatre plays.

References

Arnott, P. 1969. The Theatres of Japan. Macmillan. London

Baill, E.J. 1990. The Japanese Theatre – From Shamanistic Ritual to Contemporary Pluralism. Leider. New York.

Bowers, F. 1952. Japanese Theatre. Greenwood Press. Westport. Conn.

Brandon, J.R. 1997. Nō and kyōgen in the contemporary world. University of Hawaii Press. Honolulu.

Brazell, K. 1998. Traditional Japanese Theatre: An Anthology of Plays. Columbia University Press. New York.

Hare, T.B. 1986. Zeami’s Style: The Noh Plays of Zeami Motokiyo. Stanford University Press. Stanford.

Keene, D. 1966. No: The Classical Theatre of Japan. Kodansha International.Tokyo.

Keene, D. (ed.), 1970. Twenty Plays of the Noh Theater. Columbia Uni Press. NY.

Komparu, K. 1983. The Noh Theater: Principles and Perspectives. Translated by Jane Corddry. Weatherhill. New York.

Maruoka, D. 1975. (6^th Ed.). Noh. Hoikusha Publishing. Osaka.
Mishima, Y. (1985). Five Modern No Plays. Translated by Donald Keene. New York: Vintage Press.

Nakamura Y. 1971. Noh: The Classical Theater. Translated by Don Kenny. Weatherhill. New York.

Rath, E. 2004. The Ethos of Noh: Actors and Their Art. Harvard University Asia Centre Press. Harvard.

Waley, A. 2009. Noh Plays of Japan. Tuttle Shokai Inc, New York & Tokyo.

Noh Music

http://www.freewebs.com/aichau/nohmusic.htm

http://www.ou.edu/earlymusic/noh.html
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_wd-7oelzI
 
Videos of Noh Drama
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ModfyW8wDvo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTv8uM_jmmI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqoGHKIthS4

Medieval Theatre – Liturgical, Mystery, Miracle, Morality, Mummers, Manners, Farce and Masque Plays

Medieval Theatre – Liturgical, Mystery, Miracle, Morality, Mummers, Manners, Farce and Masque Plays


When the Western Roman Empire finally collapsed after the death of Roman Emperor Justinian I in 554, governance and culture throughout Western Europe came firmly under the control of the Church. Greek and Roman performance traditions and plays were preserved for some time in the Eastern Roman Empire (now known as the Byzantine Empire) through popular entertainments, mimes and a massive encyclopaedia called the Suda. Initially in Western Europe, theatre and drama was branded as immoral and Roman drama and dramatic forms were banned. There are some records of travelling troupes performing mimes and crude comic dramas reminiscent of Ancient Roman comedies and farces and there seems little doubt that these Ancient Roman traditions were kept alive and informed the commedia del arte many centuries later.

With the Church trying to convert so many primarily illiterate people to Christianity, more moral drama and plays started to become seen as a way to enact and demonstrate aspects of Christianity. Biblical events were acted out and staged on specific religious occasions and these liturgical dramas included elaborate sets built on the altars, costumes and specially decorated vestments and pantomimes performed by priests of specific biblical events.

One of the earliest liturgical dramas that we still have records of is Quem-Quaeritis (Whom We Seek), an Easter liturgical drama from 925 which is primarily sung by two groups and probably involved moving or ‘Living’ tableaux. Quem-Quaeritis centres around a dialogue between an angel at the tomb of Jesus Christ and the women seeking his body.

Around 960 a German aristocratic born canoness called Hrosvitha of Gandersheim (935-1005), wrote six dramas which she based around some of Terence’s comedies. These are the first known dramas that are acknowledged to be written by a female. Because plays based on Terence could have been counted as immoral for reading and performance, Hrosvitha prefaces her collection by stating that the works are moral and parables whose purpose was to save Christians and that her representation of some less than moral deeds and people were meant to act as a moral lesson for Christians. In this sense her plays ultimately put down the immorality, weakness and over emotionality of some women compared to the chastity, strength and intellect of Christian women. Her comedies concentrate on the love stories of Terence’s work and the plays are didactic in their style and are dialogues more than character and story based dramas. The most famous of Hrotsvitha’s comedies include Gallicanus, Dulcitius, Callimachus, Abraham and Paphnutius. We do not know whether Hrotsvitha’s plays were performed, read with accompanied moving or ‘living’ tableaux or simply heard in readings.

In England in around 965 Æthelwold of Winchester (the Bishop of Winchester) started to compose Liturgical dramas and short plays (which contained dialogue, music and stage directions) which he included in his treatise Regularis Concordia.

By the 11^th Century, Liturgical Dramas and the Festival or Feast of Fools started to become popular dramatic forms throughout most of Western Europe. Liturgical dramas were probably held four to six times a year while the Feast of Fools (a festival including comedy, parody and burlesque where status was inverted and peasants and actors were allowed to dress up as and mock clergy and authority) were only allowed to happen once a year or sometimes once every couple of years in some towns. Some academics see the Feast of Fools as the precursor to the Italian Commedia del Arte. Secular traditions like the Feast of Fools also give rise to Mummers and Masque dramas in the 15^th and 16^th centuries.

Liturgical dramas were normally short and were sometimes performed in churches during or after church celebrations or sometimes were performed in the squares or courts outside of churches. These liturgical dramas started as short playlets (sometimes acted and sometimes sung) and eventually emerged into longer plays. They were normally performed not in Latin but in everyday language or dialect and are sometimes known as vernacular liturgical drama.

Around this time the second great female of drama and one of the first great female composers started to write and compose. Saint Hildegard of Bingen was a German Benedictine abbess who wrote Ordo Virtutum one of the oldest surviving Morality Plays along with incredible early church music. Ordo Virtutum is a musical Morality Drama in Five Parts concerning the struggle for a human soul between the Virtues and the Devil. The drama may have first been performed in 1152 at the opening and dedication of St. Rupertsberg Church.

In the 12^th and earlier 13^th Centuries, on the whole, Mystery and Miracle plays were performed in church as part of the liturgy and Morality plays were performed outside the church or in the streets often on Pageant Wagons, although these differences eventually became blurred until such clear division no longer apply.

As these plays became longer and more popular, they started to be performed outdoors with purpose built temporary staging and costumes to attract a larger audience. Some plays even included detailed stage directions. Famous liturgical dramas include England’s The Mystery of Adam (1150), the Norman La Seinte Resurrection and the Spanish The Play of the Magi Kings.

As liturgical dramas became more elaborate especially around Easter time, the performance were done increasingly outside the churches until the performances turned into more pageants than plays. By 1200 many of these pageants and plays were done on movable stages or large carts known as Pageant Wagons. Many of the plays were still primarily moving tableaux and pantomimes, Morality plays depicting various bible stories, especially stories from the Old Testament, Christmas and the birth of Christ, Corpus Christi and the crucifixion of Jesus.

Loosely, Medieval Drama can be divided into Secular Drama (exemplified by farces, masques, the feast of Fools and some travelling player troupe burlesques and circuses which survived) and Spiritual Drama (exemplified by Liturgical Drama, Mystery Plays and Morality Plays). As some economic and political stability started to come to towns in Western Europe and in the British Isles, Mystery plays and Mystery Play cycles started to dominate the repertoire of medieval drama. York produced about 50 plays, Wakefield over 30 and Chester over 25 plays. An even greater number of plays were produced in many large towns in Germany and France.

There is some argument over the origin and meaning of Mystery Plays. Mystery plays derive their meaning from the Latin word misterium  which means occupation, craft or work. Although Mystery Plays initially started during the 10^th Century as tableaux and later ‘living’ or moving tableaux to accompany Old and New Testament Bible Stories (sometimes done with an antiphonal song) by the 14^th Century the mounting and preparation of performances had been taken over by craft guilds. 

Different guilds became known for their performances of different bibles stories and themes. The Shipwright’s Guild was known for the mounting of the story of Noah’s Ark, the Goldsmith’s for the Adoration of the Magi and the Baker’s Guild for The Last Supper. Here is a short description of the performance of a Mystery Play:

“On the morning of the performance each pageant would be rolled out of its shed and dragged in its turn to the first of the ‘stations’ at which the plays were acted. The first performance over, the pageant would be dragged through the streets to the second station, and then the play repeated. At York each play was performed twelve times, and occasionally oftener, the choice of the stopping places or stations being determined by the liberality of the owners of the adjacent houses. These contributions were much needed, for the cost of the plays fell heavily on the guilds; five or six of them had sometimes to club together to produce a single pageant, while the sharing of the expenses led to frequent disputes. In a few cases the reason for the assignment of a play to a particular guild is obvious; thus the Shipwrights or Fishmongers commonly interested themselves in Noah and the Flood, while the Goldsmiths and Goldbeaters played the Magi. But as a rule the wealth of the guild and the cost of the necessary dresses and stage properties were the chief considerations.” (Chambers 1902. pp47-48)

While these dramas were Christian and religious in their content, they were not literally liturgical anymore because they were not performed in churches. Medieval drama had become by the mid-13^th Century, more about the spectacle than the story itself. These plays were performed in everyday language, used a large fixed stage or a movable stage like a pageant wagon, relied on the spectacle rather than the religious accuracy of the action, used props, costumes and stage machinery.

A number of factors are responsible for the decline of Mystery, Morality and Miracle dramas. Within Continental Europe and in England, the rise of the Protestant Reformation meant that drama and other entertainments were targeted and edited and even banned. The popularity of Mystery plays and the changing and format also added to the decline. By the early 15^th Century, interludes (often comic in form) appeared between parts of the cycles of Mystery and Miracle plays. These interludes became increasingly popular until sometimes the length of some comic interludes exceeded the actual religious plays themselves. Some of these interludes started to borrow off other secular forms such as the Mummers (seasonal performances or parades or festivities where people go from one place to another dressed and masked as characters normally speaking in rhyme) and Masques (pageants, pantomimes, mimes or dumbshows where people dress up as characters and act out scenes).

More liberal attitudes towards the performances of Ancient Greek and Roman plays also saw a decline in religious drama. This also saw a rise in popularity for new secular dramatic forms such as the Commedia del arte and Humanist dramas (some translations of Greek and Roman histories) such as those created in France by Jodelle with Cléopâtre Captive (1553) and Grevin with Jules César (1560). This, along with the building of purpose built theatres, meant the end of Medieval Drama in Europe and the beginning of a European Renaissance Theatre.

Lesson Plan and Practical Activities

Medieval plays particularly those of a religious nature would be staged on either fixed or movable stages. If a play was staged was staged in on fixed staging, different scenes were often depicted on different stages or in different rooms or spaces in a town square or mansion such as public spaces or courtyards. If the staging was movable, then often different scenes appeared on different pageant wagons or carts and these were moved or paraded like parade floats. Some pageant wagons were described as being 12 foot tall and 40 foot long.

Students are going to create a single image (still or moving) from a religious story or a story from the bible. The students will parade this story around the classroom or around the performance or public space. The students should decide whether their group uses a still image or moving image which is repeatable. Alternatively students can break into different guilds and each present a different story. Students can use props and costumes they find in the classroom or they can try to access costumes and props that they think would look more authentic.

Some of the stories which work well for this are listed below (I have put the possible guild which probably presented the story in medieval times in brackets after the story):

Noah and the Flood (Shipbuilder’s Guild)

The Journey of Magi to see Baby Jesus (Goldsmith’s Guild)

Jonah and the Whale (the Fisherman and Fishmonger Guilds)

The Procession of the Prophets (the Dressmaker’s Guild)

Joseph and His Coat (the Weaver’s Guild)

The Garden of Eden (Farmer’s Guild)

The Last Supper (The Baker's Guild)

Students can find simple outlines of the stories on some of the websites below. Here is the story of Noah reduced to the six main events which could be presented in images. Students can use these or read a religious story and reduce it down to the major events they want to present in their pageant images.

Noah and the Flood

• God said “Humans have been wicked and I will wipe humans from the face of the earth.”
• One man found grace in the eyes of God and God told Noah that he was going to bring a great flood to the earth and that Noah was to build an ark and gather two of each beast and put it on the ark.
• After a long time, Noah had built the ark and he put his wife and sons and all the animals and birds on the ark.
• Then God brought the rains. The rain kept falling and the waters rose and covered the earth and the ark sailed safely with Noah and his passengers.
• Years afterwards when the waters were dried up, Noah, and all that had been with him, left the ark.
• Then Noah built an altar, and offered sacrifices to God, in thankfulness for God's goodness to him and his family.

References

Æthelwold of Winchester (ed. and tr. D.T. Symons). 1953. Regularis Concordia, Regularis Concordia Anglicae Nationis Monachorum Sanctimonialiumque. The Monastic Agreement of the Monks and Nuns of the English Nation. Cotton Press. London.

Billington, S. 1984. A Social History of the Fool. Harvester Press, Sussex.

Brockett, Oscar G. and Franklin J. Hildy. 2003. History of the Theatre. Ninth Edition (International Edition). Allyn and Bacon. Boston.

Chambers, R. 1902. Chamber’s Cyclopædia of English Literature. Chamber’s Publishing. Edinburgh. pp47-48.

Cohen, Robert. 2000. Theatre: Brief Edition. Mayfield Publishing Company, p. 201-203.

Dronke, P. 1994. Nine Medieval Latin Plays.  Cambridge University Press. Cambridge.

Harris, M. 2011 Sacred Folly: A New History of the Feast of Fools. Cornell University Press. Ithaca, N.Y.

Millington, P. 2013. Historical Database of Folk Play Scripts (website). http://www.folkplay.info/Texts.htm

Styan, J.L. 1996. "The English Stage: A History of Drama and Performance." Cambridge University Press. Cambridge.

Wilson, Katharina M (1984), "The Saxon Canoness: Hrotsvit of         Gandersheim", Medieval Women Writers, Manchester University    Press. Manchester.

Website and Video Resources

Websites

Simple Bible Stories

http://www.gospelweb.net/biblestoriesindex.htm

Columbia Gorge Community School. 2008. Medieval Theatre. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxdDoUoFQhM

Lengyel, C. 2010. Theatre of the Middle Ages. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTpIpcz2Ndk

RTHS. 2013. Drama 9 - Medieval Theatre. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTpIpcz2Ndk

Questions for Discussion

1.    How did the church use drama for its own purposes in Medieval times?

2.    Why do you think Mystery and Miracle plays were initially performed in churches and Morality plays were initially performed outside and on Pageant Wagons?

3.    How and why do the types and forms of Medieval Drama change over time?

4.    What do you think the role and function of secular drama forms were during Medieval times?