To begin with, the plays themselves must have a history, and boy, do they have history. To say there is one play is a complete understatement. The plays were a cycle, a compliation of plays to be "cycled" through out the day. Incidently, doing what the greeks had been doing in the beginning. Having multiple plays going on during the day and keep going.
In other words, from Oxford Reference Online when Chester Play's searched, "see mystery plays."
Oh! Alright.
"mystery plays, biblical dramas popular in England from the 13th to the later 16th cent., take their name from the mestier (métier or trade) of their performers; they were previously called ‘Miracle Plays’ which, strictly, are enactments of the miracles performed by the saints. The Mysteries enact the events of the Bible from the Creation to the Ascension (and in some cases later)."
In addition, "Though it is clear from their archives that many English towns had them, only four complete cycles survive: York, Chester, Wakefield ...it is not known where it comes from. They are connected with the feast day of Corpus Christi."
For the most part, the plays relate to the last post, which the church influence the prodcution of these plays, and probably wrote them as well. Now the reader knowing where the play comes from the play can be explained.
SOURCES:
"Chester Plays" The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature. Ed. Margaret Drabble and Jenny Stringer. Oxford university Press, 2007. Oxford Reference Online. Oxford University Press. Central Washington University. 7 December 2010 http://www.oxfordreference.com/views/ENTRY.html?subview=Main&entry=t54.e1173
"mystery plays" The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature. Ed. Margaret Drabble and Jenny Stringer. Oxford university Press, 2007. Oxford Reference Online. Oxford University Press. Central Washington University. 7 December 2010 <http://www.oxfordreference.com/views/ENTRY.html?subview=Main&entry=t54.e4316>
No comments:
Post a Comment