U N I T 4 DRAMA This Unit deals with English drama and dramatists from early times, through Shakespeare and other Elizabethan playwrights, to contemporary drama and experimentation. A. MEDIEVAL DRAMA Three types of play flourished in Britain and Europe during the Middle Ages: Mystery plays, Miracle plays and Morality plays, although they had a short life because of religious persecution and because professional theatre made them obsolete. Mystery plays were based on scenes and stories from the Bible and were often performed in a series called a cycle, which could take one or more days. The performance took place on pageant wagons, with each wagon giving a different story. Four cycles have survived: Wakefield, York, Chester, and N-Town1. A common theme was to show first fall, then redemption. York Mystery Play 2012 Miracle plays developed during the 12th century. Rather than stories from the Bible, they dramatized the lives, legends and miracles of Roman Catholic saints. Some of the saints most typically portrayed were the Virgin Mary, St. George and St. Nicholas. Morality plays emerged in the 15th century. The Castle of Perseverance is often described as the first and most complete, while Everyman is the best known. These plays focused on the common man, with a protagonist representing all humanity (and often called Everyman or Mankind). Their main theme was the struggle for salvation, the universal battle between good and evil. Morality plays used allegory: the message or meaning was expressed through symbolic representation, while vices and virtues were personified. An English pageant wagon 1 Evidence suggests that the cycle was not peculiar to any one city or community but went from one town to another. Thus, when announcing the next venue, N-Town would be replaced with the town s name. 278