Medieval theatre encompasses theatre in the period between the fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century and the beginning of the Renaissance in approximately the 15th century. The category of "medieval theatre" is vast, covering dramatic performance in Europe over a thousand-year period. A broad spectrum of genres needs to be considered, including mystery plays, morality plays, farces and masques. The themes were almost always religious. The most famous examples are the English cycle dramas, the York Mystery Plays, the Chester Mystery Plays, the Wakefield Mystery Plays, and the N-Town Plays, as well as the morality play known as Everyman. One of the first surviving secular plays in English is The Interlude of the Student and the Girl (c. 1300).
Due to a lack of surviving records and texts, low literacy in the general population, and the opposition of the clergy, there are few surviving sources from the Early and High Medieval periods. However, by the late period, performances began to become more secularized; larger number of records survive.
Difficulty of finding appropriate terms Because contemporary conceptions about theatre differ radically from the performance culture of the pre-modern world, it is difficult to find appropriate terms. First, "medieval" denotes a time period (500–1500) far too large and complex to understand in short descriptions. And within it, there was "a vast and varied spectrum of kinds of performances: ludus, jeu, ordo, representatio, officium, pagina, miraculum, mystère, processus, interlude, morality, mumming, disguising, and, of course, play." These had little to do with stage performance in the 21st century.
Transition from Rome, 500–900 A.D. As the Western Roman Empire fell into severe decay through the 4th and 5th centuries A.D., the seat of Roman power shifted to Constantinople and the Eastern Roman Empire, later called the Byzantine Empire. While surviving evidence about Byzantine theatre is slight, existing records show that mime, pantomime, scenes or recitations from tragedies and comedies, dances, and other entertainments were very popular. Constantinople had two theatres that were in use as late as the 6th century A.D. However, the true importance of the Byzantines in theatrical history is their preservation of many classical Greek texts and the compilation of a massive encyclopedia called the Suda, from which is derived a large amount of contemporary information on Greek theatre.Brockett and Hildy (2003, 70) In 526 AD, Emperor Justinian withdrew state support and funding from the theatres, which resulted in the Hippodrome of Constantinople being the only remaining venue for theatre plays;Neiiendam, K. (1992). The Art of Acting in Antiquity: Iconographical Studies in Classical, Hellenistic and Byzantine Theatre. Benin: Museum Tusculanum Press. p. 121 the wife of the Emperor Justinian, the Empress Theodora, performed at the Hippodrome prior to her marriage. This development were the same in provincial cities, were "mime performances" were now only noted at the city arena between the races, as well as actors and artist being hired for private performances in people's homes.Neiiendam, K. (1992). The Art of Acting in Antiquity: Iconographical Studies in Classical, Hellenistic and Byzantine Theatre. Benin: Museum Tusculanum Press. p. 121-122
The decrees in of 691–692 by Justinian II were aimed at eradicating all remains of Pagan customs and pre-Christians rites: the Canon 51 banned mimes, pantomimes and wild animal shows, and the Canon 62 banned pre-Christian rites, such as 1 March when women danced in public, as well as men dressing as women and women dressing as men and the wearing of comic, tragic or satyric masks.Neiiendam, K. (1992). The Art of Acting in Antiquity: Iconographical Studies in Classical, Hellenistic and Byzantine Theatre. Benin: Museum Tusculanum Press. p. 122-123 After the 690s acting was formally banned in the Byzantine Empire. However it appeared acting still continued clandestinly and tolerated in some circumstances despite the decree. In the comment of Balsamon from the 12th century he pointed out that the acting once banned was not the same as the acting that now took place on the emperor's pleasure, which indicate that acting still occurred; and performances of "mime artists" are noted to have taken place at the Hippodrome in the carnivals of 1118 and 1168.Neiiendam, K. (1992). The Art of Acting in Antiquity: Iconographical Studies in Classical, Hellenistic and Byzantine Theatre. Benin: Museum Tusculanum Press. p. 124
Theatres were considered by many to be a diabolical threat to Christianity, especially because new converts continued to attend. Church fathers such as Tatian, Tertullian and Augustine characterized the stage as an instrument of corruption, while acting was considered sinful because its imitation of life was considered a mockery of God's creation.Wise and Walker (2003, 184) Roman actors were forbidden to have contact with Christian women, own slaves, or wear gold. They were officially excommunicated, denied the sacraments, including marriage and burial, and were defamed throughout Europe. For many centuries thereafter, clerics were cautioned to not allow travelling actors to perform in their jurisdiction.
Hrosvitha (c. 935–973), an aristocratic canoness and historian in northern Germany, wrote six plays modeled on Terence's comedies but using religious subjects in the 10th century. These six plays are the first known plays composed by a female dramatist and the first identifiable Western dramatic works of the post-Classical era.Brockett and Hildy (2003, 77) In order to preempt criticism from the Church, Hrosvitha declared that she sought to imitate the "laudable" deeds of women in Terence's plays and discard the "shameless" ones.Wise and Walker (2003, 190) They were first published in 1501 and had considerable influence in the sixteenth century. Another nun who wrote plays was the abbess Hildegard of Bingen (d. 1179), who wrote a drama called Ordo Virtutum in 1155.
The origins of Italian theatre are a source of debate among scholars, as they are not yet clear and traceable with certain sources. Since the end of the theatre of ancient Rome, which partly coincided with the fall of the Western Roman Empire, mimes and comedies were still performed. Alongside this pagan form of representation, mostly performed by tropes and wandering actors of which there are no direct written sources, the theatre was reborn, in medieval times, from religious functions and from the dramatization of some tropes of which the most famous and ancient is the short Quem quaeritis? from the 10th century, still in Latin.
It can therefore be assumed that there were two main lines on which the ancient Italian theatre developed. The first, consisting of the dramatization of Catholic liturgies and of which more documentation is retained, and the second, formed by pagan forms of spectacle such as the staging for city festivals,Festivities that are still pagan, such as the grape harvest, and mostly take place in small towns. the court preparations of the jesters and the songs of the troubadours.Of this second root Dario Fo he speaks of a true alternative culture to the official one: although widespread as an idea, some scholars such as do not agree in considering it as such. In this regard, see
Early Medieval theatre
From the 5th century, Western Europe was plunged into a period of general disorder that lasted (with a brief period of stability under the Carolingian Empire in the 9th century) until the 10th century. As such, most organized theatrical activities disappeared in Western Europe. While it seems that small nomadic bands travelled around Europe throughout the period, performing wherever they could find an audience, there is no evidence that they produced anything but crude scenes.Brockett and Hildy (2003, 75) These performers were denounced by the Church during the Dark Ages as they were viewed as dangerous and pagan.
Faced with the problem of explaining a new religion to a largely illiterate population, churches in the Early Middle Ages began staging dramatized versions of particular biblical events on specific days of the year. The dramatizations were included in order to vivify annual celebrations.Brockett and Hildy (2003, 76) Symbolic objects and actions (vestments, altars, censers, and pantomime performed by priests) recalled the events which Christian ritual celebrates. The Whom do you Seek (Quem-Quaeritis) Easter trope, dating from ca. 925, is an example of performing the events surround Christ's empty grave. The text was sung responsively by two groups and was not considered to be "acting" in the sense of impersonation. Sometime between 965 and 975, Æthelwold of Winchester composed the Regularis Concordia (Monastic Agreement) which contains a playlet complete with directions for performance.
The anonymous pagan play Querolus, written around 420, was adapted in the 12th century by Vitalis of Blois. Other secular Latin plays, such as Babio, were also written in the 12th century, mainly in France but also in England. It is also known that mimes, minstrels, bards, storytellers, and jugglers travelled in search of new audiences and financial support. Not much is known about these performers' repertoire. One of the most famous of the secular plays is the musical Le Jeu de Robin et Marion, written by Adam de la Halle in the 13th century, which is fully laid out in the original manuscript with lines, musical notation, and illuminations in the margins depicting the actors in motion. Adam also wrote other plays.
Hrosvitha (c. 935 – 973), a canoness in northern Germany, wrote six plays modeled on Terence's comedies but using religious subjects. These six plays – Abraham, Callimachus, Dulcitius, Gallicanus, Paphnutius, and Sapientia – are the first known plays composed by a female dramatist and the first identifiable Western dramatic works of the post-classical era. They were first published in 1501 and had considerable influence on religious and didactic plays of the sixteenth century. Hrosvitha was followed by Hildegard of Bingen (d. 1179), a Benedictine abbess, who wrote a Latin musical drama called Ordo Virtutum in 1155.
High and Late Medieval theatre
As the Viking invasions ceased in the middle of the 11th century, liturgical drama had spread from Russia to Scandinavia to Italy. Only in Muslim-occupied Iberian Peninsula were liturgical dramas not presented at all. Despite the large number of liturgical dramas that have survived from the period, many churches would have only performed one or two per year and a larger number never performed any at all.Brockett and Hildy (2003, 78)
The Feast of Fools was especially important in the development of comedy. The festival inverted the status of the lesser clergy and allowed them to ridicule their superiors and the routine of church life. Sometimes plays were staged as part of the occasion and a certain amount of burlesque and comedy crept into these performances. Although comic episodes had to truly wait until the separation of drama from the liturgy, the Feast of Fools undoubtedly had a profound effect on the development of comedy in both religious and secular plays.Brockett and Hildy (2003, 81)
Performance of religious plays outside of the church began sometime in the 12th century through a traditionally accepted process of merging shorter liturgical dramas into longer plays. These plays were then translated into vernacular and performed by laymen on stages known as mansion stages. The Play of Adam (1150) gives credence to this theory as its detailed stage direction suggest that it was performed outdoors. A number of other plays from the period survive, including La Seinte Resurrection (Norman), The Play of the Magi Kings (Spanish), and Sponsus (French).