medieval-theatre - ANA SOFIA AMAYA PONCE DE LEON (1)

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Ana Sofía Amaya Ponce de León 
Vanessa Parra Rosado
Camila Soto Ramírez 
Krysta Camila Torres Anaya
Medieval theater
Following the collapse of the Roman Empire, a small band of performers
travelled from place to place to entertain audiences from all walks of life.
These nomadic groups toured countries and regions to tell stories and jests,
play music, or perform acrobatic acts. Festivals emerged wherever they
went. However, despite the fun and excitement they brought to towns and
cities, religious practitioners were antagonistic towards these travelling
entertainers.
Beginning
Is true that one of the main characteristics of medieval theater was the religious factor as a
determining element of said artistic expression, it also had other interesting peculiarities,
among which the following stand out: Plots based on biblical stories: generally the themes
to be developed were stories taken from the Bible and were performed at Christmas
events, as well as during or after mass. Stages inside the churches: at the beginning, the
stagings were carried out inside the temples and directed by the monks or the priests.
Ecclesiastical clothing: it was common for actors to wear clothes belonging to the church,
such as that of priests, but accessories were added depending on the character, for
example, wings for angels or crowns in the case of kings.
Characteristics
Medieval theater included theatrical performances which occurred
between the beginning of the Renaissance period and the fall of the
Roman Empire.
The medieval theater is huge; it conquered Europe with its dramatic
performance for thousands of years.
The genres included in the medieval era were morality plays, masques,
mystery plays, and farces, and the themes were mostly religious.
Genres
Important
plays
They are most commonly known as the ‘mystery
plays’ for two reasons. Firstly, they took the mysteries
of God as their primary theme. They aimed to show,
in the course of a day, the whole history of the
universe from the creation of Heaven and Earth to
the Last Judgement – the end of the world, when
everyone on earth will be judged by God and
divided between Heaven and Hell, salvation and
damnation. Secondly, these plays were organised,
funded and produced by guilds, which were also
called ‘mysteries’ in the Middle Ages.
Mystery plays
The morality play was a special type of religious play. Divided into chapters the
same way as cycle plays, its theme constantly revolved around man’s endless
struggle to be good and avoid evil.
In the later centuries, secular plays emerged in schools and universities to great
fanfare. They are mostly comprised of Latin comedies and tragedies. In France,
a secular play called the farce became widely popular. Farcical stories were
usually about gods and heroes and political discussions were incorporated into
these plays once in a while. Actors from noble houses were the only ones
privileged enough to act in secular plays.
Morality plays
During the Middle Ages, theatre began a new cycle of
development that paralleled the emergence of the theatre from
ritual activity in the early Greek period. Whereas the Greek
theatre had grown out of Dionysian worship, the medieval
theatre originated as an expression of the Christian religion.
The two cycles would eventually merge during the Renaissance.
Impact 
These were the mimes, acrobats, dancers, animal trainers,
jugglers, wrestlers, minstrels, and storytellers who preserved
vital skills that survive in the theatre today. They also brought a
duality to theatre that still exists: popular theatre and the literary
theatre were to grow side by side, feeding off and nourishing
each other.
Impact 
There was two major kinds of stages in the medieval
theatre: Fixed and Moveable. The Fixed Stage consisted
of a large mansion, which served as different locations
and scene changes for during the plays, and on the other
hand, pageants were the more physical stages that were
maneuvered using wagons. Their platforms could hold
several actors as well as minimal props such as chairs
and tables.
The scenery
Juan Ruiz (Alcalá de 
Henares, 1283-1350
Member of the royal family and writer in
the Spanish language, was one of the
main representatives of medieval fictional
prose, especially thanks to his work El
conde Lucanor, a set of moralizing stories
(exempla) that intermingle with various
forms of wisdom literature
Types of medieval theater
Among the main types of medieval theater that existed, the
liturgical, the religious and the profane stand out, which is
divided, in turn, into the cult and the popular. Medieval
liturgical theatre: arose as a result of ecclesiastical songs,
but with dialogue scenes and performed by members of
the temples. They generally appeared at Christmas time, at
mass or Easter. Religious medieval theater: it was more
oriented to spread the messages of the Catholic Church
and was directed by the authorities of each municipality.
They lasted longer than the liturgical dramas and expanded
outside the walls of the cathedrals.