TERMS FOR CHAPTER 4: MEDIEVAL THEATRE

Tropes-Lyrics added to musical passages in religious services. They were often structured like little plays and evolved into liturgical drama.

Station Drama- Drama that uses a series of small scenic mansions set up side by side usually in conjunction with a larger platform stage. This allowed the plays to cycle through the city. Each guild had their own mansion for example the ship building guild would put on the Noah’s arc part of the flood.

Hans Sachs-(1494-1576) A German Writer of farce. He was originally a show maker and a singer, but he learned a lot in his travels and eventually began writing drama. He wrote nearly 200 plays an example of which is The Wandering Scholar from Paradise. A story about a woman who’s first husband died and is now married to a brute. She meets a student who she thinks says he is from paradise. She give the student money to take to her first husband. The student leaves with the money and when the 2^nd husband comes home he sets off to retrieve the money but he too is fooled by the student.

Mystery play- a medieval dramatic form based on a Biblical story, usually dealing with the life, death, and resurrection of Christ

Processional staging- audiences would assemble in various places and the cycle play would be set up on a wagon which moved from locale to locale

Hrosvitha- earliest known female dramatist (10^th century northern Germany), wrote Paphnutius

Paegent Master: In the middle ages, a professional stage manager who oversaw the production of a cycle or mystery plays.(or supervised the mounting of plays on wagons in England)

The Feast of Corpus Christi: a favorite occasion for cycle plays, recognized officially by the church in 1311 observed a week after Trinity Sunday (end of May or early June)(page 125 for more information)

Cycle Plays- stories from Bible and of saints. Staged not in a religious ceremony but independent drama. Short dramas presented in a sequence

Secrets- special stage effects

Paphnutius- Play of women's redemption from sexual sins. Written by Hrosvitha

Miracle Plays: Related to Mystery plays. Both originated as tropes on liturgical texts and developed into full dramatic works. Miracle plays are specifically about the lives of Saints rather than stories from the Bible.

Hildegard von Bingen: A nun who wrote short musical plays. They were essentially liturgical songs accompanied by dramatic text.

Heaven and Hell- Heaven was the name for the raised level of the stage, while Hell was the name for the area below the stage

Feast of Fools- a popular medievel festival regularly celebrated by the clergy and laity from the fifth century until the sixteenth century in several countries of Europe, principally France, but also Spain, Germany, England, and Scotland.

The great chain of being- (diagram found on the back of terms list)

The Wandering Scholar from Paradise- A play written by the German farce writer Hans Sachs (1494-1576). In the play a woman who dreams of her decreased husband meets a student from Paris. She thinks he says paradise, and it tricked by the student.

Contraternities - literally means "brotherhoods"; corporate groups found in various religious traditions that organized the devotional and charitable life of lay believers around the model of ritual kinship.

Street pageant - the word pageant had meant the wagon or the movable stage on which one scene of a mystery or miracle play was performed. The pageant was built on wheels and consisted of two rooms, the lower one being used as a dressing room and the upper used as a stage. The word also referred to the complex wooden machine-structures built for the Tudor masque.

Sottie - in french, sottise means "foolishness" or "nonsense"; they were short sketches that usually have a fool as the central character and they were often critical of the church or religious figures.

Morality Play: Medieval drama designed to teach a lesson. The characters were often allegorical and represented virtues or faults, such as good deeds, friendship, or avarice. The most famous example is Everyman.

Liturgical Drama: Any religious drama, usually sung or chanted, that relates to the Bible and is presented in Latin inside a church sanctuary.

The Vernacular: The common language

Mansion: Medieval scenic unit, often presented as an individual house or locale.

Platea: an unlocalized playing area

Quem Quaertis: Famous trope about mary visiting the tomb of Christ. Literally means "whom do ye seek?"