The study of ‘medieval drama’ is dominated by the scriptural mystery cycles.  While these plays sought to teach about scripture and salvation, they were not drily didactic teaching tools but were full of humour, humanity, and spectacle.  Medieval literary theories connected enjoyment and learning, so it is possible that the comedy was the sugar to help the educational medicine go down: however, modern revivals of medieval plays have repeatedly demonstrated that their human power is far more than a sweetener, and modern scholars have applied theories of carnival to demonstrate medieval theatre’s potential to be politically and socially subversive.  Theatrically medieval plays are highly innovative, particularly in their self-conscious exploration of the nature of performance and the relationship between actors and audiences.  This course will comprise in-depth study of the plays of the Chester Cycle.  The plays will be considered as scripts for performance, as vehicles for political polemic, and as part of a verbal and visual culture by which the medieval world explored its relationship with the divine.

16.09    Intro to staging cycle drama
23.09    Fall of Lucifer
30.09    Adam and Eve
07.10    Noah’s Flood
14.10    Abraham and Isaac
21.10    The Ten Commandments, Balaam and Balak, and the Prophets
28.10    Annunciation and Nativity
04.11    Shepherds
11.11    Three Kings
18.11    Slaughter of the Innocents
25.11    The Woman Taken in Adultery
02.12    The Passion
09.12    The Resurrection
16.12    The Last Judgment

• Increased familiarity with late Middle English language
• Knowledge of the style and content of the mystery play
• Understanding of the importance of performance location
• Appreciation of the relationships among religions, politics and performance in medieval drama
• Understanding of the relationship between drama and late medieval art and iconography
• Appreciation of the place of the mystery play in the development of English theatre