The Croxton Play of the Sacrament is a sensational piece of late-medieval drama involving severed limbs, exploding ovens, and cauldrons overflowing with blood. It is the only host miracle play to survive in English, although it has continental analogues which invite comparison: its theatrical Jews are precursors to Marlowe’s Barabbas, The Jew of Malta, and of course Shakespeare’s Shylock. It readily finds a place in academic histories of anti- semitism, sacramental theology, and violence and special effects in the theatre.  Croxton, a farcical comedy laden with slapstick violence, is nonetheless unsettlingly multivalent, and, as its textual transmission is curious and little is certain about the circumstances in which it was played, attempts to recover the meaning which the play held for its early audiences, on the page or in performance, are more than usually vexed.

16.09    Reading Croxton: issues of place and time
23.09    Reading Croxton: Aristorius the Merchant
30.09    Reading Croxton: Jonathas the Jew
07.10    Analogue: Chaucer's Prioress's Tale 1
14.10    Prioress's Tale 2
21.10    Jews in medieval art
28.10    Making your blood boil: special effects in Croxton
04.11    Jews in the scriptural plays 1
11.11    Jews in the scriptural plays 2
18.11    Jonathas' sons: The Jew of Malta
25.11    Jonathas' sons: The Merchant of Venice
02.12    Jonathas’ other offspring
09.12    Conclusions

• Increasing familiarity with Middle English language
• Increasing familiarity with the genres of medieval drama
• Knowledge of the history of anti-Semitism in England and Western Europe
• Understanding of processes of myth-making
• Appreciation of the role of religion in medieval society
• Appreciation of staging issues, special effects, audience participation in drama