``Where
the Bishop is, there let the multitude of believers be;
even as where Jesus is, there is the Catholic Church'' Ignatius of
Antioch, 1st c. A.D
Mystery, Miracle,
and Morality Plays
Sadly, the topic of Mystery, Morality, Miracle, and Passion plays is,
for the most part, with a few exceptions such as school nativity plays1,
a matter of historical interest rather than what
Catholics are up to today.2 But it's my hope that this will
change, and
that Catholics will once more use drama to teach and inspire.
Medieval drama sprang from liturgical drama, the foremost of which was
the Quem quaeritis? of the
10th c. Easter liturgy -- a brief 3-part dramatic exchange between the
women who went to Christ's tomb on Easter Sunday and the Angels
they met there:
Interrogatio:
Quem quaeritis
in sepulchro, o Christicolae?
Responsio:
Jesum Nazarenum
crucifixum, o caelicolae.
Angeli:
Non est hic;
surrexit, sicut praedixerat. Ite, nuntiate quia surrexit de sepulchro
Translation:
Angels:
Whom do ye seek
in the sepulchre, O followers of Christ?
Women:
Jesus of
Nazareth, the Crucified, O heavenly ones.
Angels:
He is not here;
He is risen, just as He foretold. Go, announce that He is risen from
the sepulchre.
An angelic chorus of alleluias followed this exchange. The Festum Asinorum, or "Feast of the
Ass," was another such liturgical drama, and it must've been colorful.
The Catholic Encyclopedia describes it like this:
The procession
filed into the choir. On the one side were seated Moses, Amos, Isaias,
Aaron, Balaam and his Ass, Zachary and Elizabeth, John the Baptist and
Simeon. The three Gentile prophets sat opposite. The proceedings were
conducted under the auspices of St. Augustine, whom the presiding
dignitary called on each of the prophets, who successively testified to
the birth of the Messiah.
When the Sibyl had recited her acrostic
lines on the Signs of Judgment (Du Méril, 186), all the prophets sang
in unison a hymn of praise to the long-sought Saviour. Mass immediately
followed. In all this the part that pleased the congregation was the
roe of Balaam and the Ass; hence the popular designation of the
"Processus Prophetarum" as "the Feast of the Ass."
The part of Balaam was soon dissociated from its surroundings and
expanded into an independent drama. The Rouen rubrics direct that two
messengers be sent by King Balaak to bring forth the prophet. Balaam
advances riding on a gorgeously caparisoned ass (a wooden, or hobby,
ass, for the rubric immediately bids somebody to hide beneath the
trappings—not an enviable position when the further direction to the
rider was carried out—"and let him goad the ass with his spurs")...
Then follows the scene in which the ass meets the angered angel and
protests at length against the cruelty of the rider.
There were other such short liturgical dramas, and they later spread to
outside of the Church, developing into full-blown Mystery plays,
Miracle plays,
and Morality plays.
First, a few definitions:
Mystery plays
are stories from the Bible. Of special note, Passion plays are a type
of Mystery play
that focuses on the Passion of
Christ, and the origin of the custom of putting up nativity scenes at Christmas is a Mystery
play put on by St. Francis of Assisi in A.D. 1223 -- the first Mystery
play performed in Italy, and an event which led to the revival of drama
there.
Miracle plays
are based on the lives of the Saints, pious legends, stories
from the Apocryphal Gospels (such as the Protoevangelium of St. James),
etc., and were used to teach historical truths and about the Catholic
Faith
itself.
Morality plays
are allegorical dramas in which the characters
represent abstractions, such as the vices, virtues, "Everyman,"
Death, evil, and so on, and their purpose is to teach moral lessons, to
help shape Christian character in the audience.
These dramas grew to be staged in three distinct ways. Some
were produced in civic cycles by a city's guilds, and used processional
staging requiring moving platforms -- stages set on pageant wagons,
often with
multi-story stages, that would move from place to place. A second type
used platea et locus --
"place-and-scaffold" -- staging in a specific area, with locus
(scaffold) staging using a fixed platform, and with platea (place)
staging in less defined, stageless settings. The third type of staging
would take place in halls.
Left to
right: Place-and-scaffold staging, and Hall staging
When produced by cities, each guild would present a different play --
one of a set of plays that were repeated in cycles over the years --
and, oftentimes, the play a guild would put on would have something to
do with that guild's business. For ex., in York, it was the guild of
shipwrights
who'd put on the story of Noe's Ark, goldsmiths who'd portray the
adoration of the Magi, and bakers who handled the Last Supper.
These cycles of plays would cover a vast amount of Scripture. As an
example, below is the Chester Cycle, and the guild that would perform
each play:
The Fall of
Lucifer
Tanners
The Creation of
the World, Adam and Eve, and how Cain Slew Abel
Drapers
The Ark and the
Flood
Water-Drawers
The Histories of
Lot and Abraham, the Sacrifice of Isaac, and the Offering of Melchizedek
Barbers and Wax
Chandlers
The Story of
Balaam and Balak
Cappers and
Linen Drapers
The Nativity
Wrights and
Slaters
The Shepherd's
Play
Painters and
Glaziers
The Visit of the
Three Kings
Vintners
The Offerings of
the Three Kings and their
Return to their Own Countries
Mercers (cloth
merchants)
The Massacre of
the Innocents
Goldmiths and
Masons
Christ in the
Temple
Smiths
The Temptation
in the Wilderness
Butchers
The Raising of
Lazarus and the Healing of the Blind Man
Glovers
The Journey of
Our Savior to Jerusalem
Corvisors
(leather-workers, shoemakers)
The Last Supper
and Betrayal
Bakers
The Passion and
Crucifixion
Fleshers,
Bowyers (bow-makers), Coopers (barrel-makers), Stringers, and
Ironmongers
The Harrowing of
Hell
Cooks
The Resurrection
Skinners
The Appearance
of Christ after His Resurrection
Saddlers and
Saddletree Makers
The Ascension
Tailors
The Descent of
the Holy Spirit
Fishmongers
The Prophecies
of the Coming of Anti-Christ
Sherman
(sheep-shearers, cloth finishers)
Anti-Christ
Dyers and
Hewsters (I have no idea what "hewsters" did. I asume they were
lumberjacks.)
The Last
Judgment
Weavers
Music was involved in these productions, including the use of
hymns -- for ex., actors portraying Angels are directed to sing the
"Ave Maria" in
the Salutation and Conception,
the "Veni Creator" in the Marriage
of Mary and Joseph, and the "Te Deum Laudamus" at the end of the
Mary Magdalene
in the N-Town cycle of Mystery plays.
Musicians would open, close, and accent action with trumpets, drums,
and flutes.
And all this
staging involved spectacle! From Folgerpedia
online: 3
Medieval
dramatic works often took advantage of what we would consider "special
effects" today. Perhaps the most famous example is the direction in the
staging diagram of the Castle of
Perseverance regarding Belial's entrance for the battle scene:
he is to have pipes filled with burning gunpowder in his hands, his
ears, and his arse. But just as ambitious is the staging of the
bleeding Host in the Croxton Play of
the Sacrament, the expulsion of the Seven Deadly Sins from Mary
Magdalene in the Digby Mary Magdalene,
the withering of Salome's hand in the N-Town Nativity, and the use of light in
the N-Town Salutation and Conception.
There, in a striking visual translation of Mary's impregnation by the
Trinity, the Holy Ghost descends to Mary alongside three beams, three
beams shine from the Son of the Godhead to the Holy Ghost, and three
beams shine from the Heavenly Father to the Son.
Stage properties also contributed to the sense of spectacle.
The ship in the Digby Mary Magdalene
represents a movable stage that traveled throughout the place, carrying
characters between locations. Likewise, a "cloud" is used to allow
Christ, Mary Magdalene, and the Virgin Mary to rise into heaven (and in
the case of Magdalene, to return to earth) in the Chester Ascension,
Digby Mary Magdalene, and
N-town Assumption. Both the
Chester Last Judgement and Antichrist
stage the resurrection of the dead from sepulchers, but the latter also
stages the dead rising up from burial mounds in a performative analogue
to visuals seen in manuscripts, stained glass, wall paintings on stone
or wood, and roof bosses throughout England. Equally impressive would
have been the use of reflectors, backed by candles, to represent fire
and the visitation of the Holy Spirit; the ability of Hellmouth to open
and close to admit or expel devils, Christ, and the souls of the
damned; and the use of fire and smoke to represent the burning of the
pagan temple in Marseilles in the Mary
Magdalene.
The Catholic Encyclopedia also gives us a description of the "the
manner of representation and technic" found in these medieval
Mystery plays:
Places were
indicated by vast scenery, rather than really represented. Two or three
trees, for example, represented a forest, and although the action often
changed from place to place the scenery did not change, for it showed
simultaneously all the various localities where the characters
successively appeared in the course of the drama, and which were thus
in close proximity, even though in reality they were often far removed
from each other.
For the rest nothing was neglected to attract the eye. If the scenery
was immovable, it was very rich and secrets of theoretical mechanism
often produced surprising and fairy-like effects. The actors were
richly dressed, each defrayed the cost of his own costume and looked
more for beauty than for truth.
In 1634, the people who lived in the village of Oberammergau, in
Bavaria, made a vow to God that, if He'd spare them from the ravages of
the bubonic plague that was devastating Germany, they'd put on a
Mystery play once each decade to depict and honor Christ's Passion. God
did spare them, and they've kept their promise for almost four
centuries as I write. In all years ending in zero, the play is acted
out repeatedly, attracting people from all over the world to watch.
The entire town of Oberammergau is involved in the production of this
spectacular event, which involves acting, orchestration, choirs, and tableaux vivants4 that
demonstrate Old Testament typology in
light of New Testament action.
Scandalously, the Oberammergau play has been edited to appease the
Council of Centers on Jewish-Christian relations, who found
objectionable what they say are Gospel "elements that are historically
dubious" -- in
other words, those parts of the Gospel that depicted what many Jews at
the time of Christ did to bring about His persecution and death.
Wikipedia lists the following as among the parts that have been edited
or
removed:
the role of the
Temple traders has been reduced;
the character
"Rabbi" has been eliminated and his lines given to another character;
Jewish priests
no longer wear horn-shaped hats;
Jesus has been
addressed as Rabbi Yeshua;
Jews are shown
disputing with others about theological aspects of Judaism, not just
about Jesus;
Pilate has been
made to appear more tyrannical and threatens Caiaphas, the Jewish high
priest, and it is made clear that Caiaphas does not speak for all the
Jews;
Romans now stand
guard at the gates when Jesus makes his entrance to Jerusalem;
Jesus'
supporters have been added to the screaming crowd outside Pilate's
palace;
Judas is
portrayed as being duped into betraying Jesus;
removing the
lines "His blood is upon us and also upon our children's children"
(from Matthew 27:25), and "Ecce homo" (Behold a man);
Peter, when
questioned by Nathaniel regarding abandoning Judaism replies, "No! We
don't want that! Far be it from us to abandon Moses and his law"
Remarkable. And sadly typical in our times.
St. Hildegard of
Bingen's Ordo Virtutum
In around 1151, St. Hildegard of
Bingen wrote a five-act morality play
called Ordo Virtutum (Order
of the Virtues) which focuses on a
struggle between the Devil and the Virtues for possession of a soul.
Dramatically, all of the parts are sung -- with the exception of the
Devil's part, since, according to St. Hildegard, he is not capable of
melody and harmony. You can read an English translation of the
text of this drama (pdf), and below
you can watch it brought to life in its original Latin. Listen for the
last line -- genua vestra ad patrem
vestrum flectite ut
vobis manum suam porrigat (bend your knee to the Father so that
He might reach out His Hand to you). The last word stretches out in a
thirty-nine note melisma, meant to indicate God's divine patience with
us.
My Hope
My hope is that the Catholic extra-liturgical
tradition of drama is restored -- and not just in terms of plays, but
it terms of other dramatic media, such as film and video. I'd love to
see a great Catholic resurgence in all of the arts! I would love
to see Catholics writing new plays, putting on old ones, engaging in
street theater, making not just
pedagogical works, but dramatic ones and those for pure entertainment.
I want Catholics making Youtube videos and
forming flash mobs that demonstrate the beauty of the Holy Faith. Can
you imagine a group of twenty
young men appearing seemingly randomly in a busy mall and, "out of
nowhere," singing Gregorian and other Western chant (especially ones
with long ison notes)? The beauty of chant is something
that shoots past arguments and nasty attitudes and goes straight to the
soul. Imagine blessing the world in this way!
Imagine a group of young women doing the same with St. Hildegard's
works!
And, hey, we don't need dance at the liturgy, but there's a place for
those blessed with "body genius" and who are enchanted with movement to
"do their thing" outside of
the Mass!
I'd like to see Catholics do more writing, acting, comedy, dancing,
painting, sculpting, making music, and film-making! Our spiritual
heritage should compel us; we are heirs of the greatest artists the
world has ever known -- Giotto, Fra Angelico, Raphael, Da Vinci,
Michaelangelo, Beethoven, Dante, Shakespeare -- the list of greats goes
on and on, and that's in addition to the myriad anonymous craftsmen who
built the cathedrals, made the stained glass for their windows, and
carved gargoyles and grotesques to keep the demons away (and
who put on Mystery plays in their spare time!).
Come on, creative, artistic Catholics! Get busy!
Footnotes:
1 Enjoy this
pdf of a Nativity play for schools, and use it as you like.
2 Some English towns have revived
some of
these drama. For ex., York and Chester revived their towns' cycles of
Mystery plays in 1951; the N-Town cycle was revived in 1978 as the
Lincoln Mystery plays; the Lichfield Mysteries were revived in 1994,
etc. But these are not Catholic productions; they're entirely secular
and performed for historic interest rather than religious. I have no
idea how or if they've been toyed with to appease the world. A trailer
for the Mystery plays performed in York:
4 A "tableau vivant" is the recreation of
a painting, scene from History, scene from a drama, etc., through
costume, lighting, set, and posing. There is no movement and no
speaking; they're more like "living paintings" or "living
snapshots." The Victorians were very big on tableaux vivants, and I
have a fascination for how the folks of that era entertained themselves
(they were wildly creative!). I also have a passion for old newspapers,
and going through them, have discovered lots of descriptions of the
Victorian use of tableaux vivants. To see a small sampling of the many
articles I've saved about Victorian entertainments, check these links
to graphics I've kept:
