MEDIEVAL DRAMA

This is only meager evidence of theatrical activities in Europe between the sixth and tenth centuries, but by the end of the fifteenth century a number of types of drama had developed. The first of these, known as liturgical drama, was sung or chanted in Latin as part of a church service. Plays on religious themes were also written in the vernacular and performed outside the church. The mystery plays (also called cycle plays) were based on events taken from the old and New Testaments. Many such plays were organized into historical cycles, which told the story of humanity from the creation to doomsday. The entire performance was quite long, sometimes requiring as much as five days. The plays were produced as a community effort, which different craft guilds usually being responsible for individual segments . Another form of medieval drama was the morality play. The morality play was a didactic, allegorical treatment of moral and religious questions, the most famous example being every man. The medieval period also produced several types of secular plats. Other than folk plays., which dealt with legendary heroes like Robin Hood, most were farcical and fairly short...........