Medieval Blog Entry Ten



This is another way productions were set up in Medieval times



For my primary document I chose English Pageant Cars by Archdeacon Robert Rogers. He left a description of the pageant cars used in the Chester Whitsun plays.

Rogers describes them in old English. He describes them as having 2 “rowmes”. One higher and one lower, they were placed on four wheels. The lower one was used as a backstage to “apparel” themselves. The higher one was used to perform. It was raised so all could see and hear them. Rogers says “The places where they played them was in every streete.” So the cars were wheeled from place to place to perform in different locations around town.



This is one interpretation of a pageant car



According to Nagler in his book The Medieval Religious Stage the main source that we have to support the procession theory for the Chester Cycle is in David Rogers’ description. However, he wrote his history 34 years after the last performance in Chester, since we do not know how old he was when he wrote his history we cannot assume that he was an eyewitness as previously thought. His father is the same Robert Rogers mentioned above; so some believe that David got his information from his father, who would have been an eyewitness. Rogers listed five points within the city for performances: at the Abbey Gate, at the High Cross, in Watergate Street, Bridgegate Street, and Eastgate Street. Rogers also stated that the wagons followed each other smoothly without interruptions. (Nagler)

Nagler, A.M. The Medieval Religious Stage. New York, NY: Yale University, 1976. 55-56. Print.

Rogers, Robert . "English Pageant Cars ." A Source Book in Theatrical History. Comp. A.M. Nagler. New York: Dover
           Publications, 1952. Print.

"Stage Design in the Middle Ages ." THR 100: Drama Appreciation. Web. 7 Dec 2010. http://www.uncg.edu/aas/itc/thr100/unit14/part2.html

Medieval Blog Entry Nine

Lin, Erika T. "Popular Festivity and the Early Modern Stage The Case of George a Greene." Theatre Jounal Volume 61.2 (2009): 271-97. Web. 7 Dec. 2010.

The following scholarly article discusses the Cycle plays and their commonality (or lack of) in English theatre.

Popular Festivity and the Early Modern Stage The Case of George a Greene

Erika T. Lin

Theatre Journal, Volume 61, Number 2, May 2009, pp. 271-297 (Article)

Published by The Johns Hopkins University Press

"Recent work associated with the Records of Early English Drama (REED) project, however, has demonstrated the persistence of popular festive performance. Although the demise of the biblical cycle drama certainly took place, it has become increasingly evident that these plays were, in fact, never as widespread as has been generally assumed and were enacted only in urban centers such as Chester and York. Far more common across the whole of England were various kinds of theatrical and paratheatrical activity at the parish level." (Lin 271- 272)

This was new information to me. I did not realize that more study had been done, and that scholars were finding that the cycle plays were actually not as common as people originally believed.

Lin goes on to say that the parish festivals were generally unscripted. While cycle plays have more textual traces. Because of this the cycle plays are more studied and there is more known about them. The Festivals were given much less critical study than the Cycle plays.

  

"Yet if regular participation in amateur performance was commonplace in early modern England, its impact on the growth of professional theatre must have been significant." (Lin 272) How did the other festivals impact the growth of theatre in England? Lin states examples where later plays had festivals in them. Such as The Winter's Tale where there is a sheep shearing festival.

I thought that Lin brought up a subject that could be a whole blog in itself.  

Medieval Blog Entry Eight

The passage of the Bible that the second Chester Cycle play is written from is Genesis 1-3. The opening speech by God follows almost exactly the same order presented in the Bible. The serpent's speech in the play is similar to that of the Bible. Both convince the women that she will become more God-like if she eats the fruit.

In the Bible it says "She took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it." (Genesis 3:6) This goes back to the discussion about Eve being the first sinner. If Adam was there with her why did he not stop her? After sinning they both realized that they were naked and then they made clothes out of fig leaves.

In the play it calls the fruit an "apple" in the Bible there is no mention to what kind of fruit is on the tree. For all we know it could be a fruit that no longer exists.

At the end of the play God puts cherubim and flaming swords at the entrance of the garden. This is Genesis 3:24, which is the end of the chapter.

Chester Cycle 1572/2010 A.F.Johnston, ed. (from Mills) Play 2

Chester Cycle 1572/2010

Play 2

Adam and Eve

Holy Bible. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2002. Print.

Medieval Blog Entry Seven

In the book Eve by John A. Phillips while talking about Eve as the "original sinner" Phillips states that the women dominates the story of the Garden of Eden. It is true. She is the one who talks to the serpent (Devil) and the one who takes the first bite. Then she "assumes the role of the serpent... in providing her husband with the fruit." (Phillips 55) Many people blame the woman for bringing sin into the world, but in Phillips book he argues that Adam fell with even less persuasion than Eve. If the serpent had talked to Adam first, would he have eaten the fruit faster than Eve?

There is no way that we could ever truely know the answer to that question. We cannot go back in time to see what Adam would do. People have discussed whether sin is Eve's "fault" or not for centuries. I was raised in the Christian church and I have heard many sermons, speeches, and discussions on the story of the Garden of Eden. As far as I can see we are no closer to having an answer now than they were 50 years ago. Phillips has some good points in his book Eve, and I would reccomend it to someone looking for someone's point of view on it.

Photograph. Christ Church of Peach. Web. 6 Dec. 2010. http://christchurchofpeacejacksonville.org/services.

 

Phillips, John A. Eve: The History of an Idea. 1st ed. New York: Library of Congress, 1984. Print.

                     

While I was searching for a video of medieval cycle plays I found this video of the Everyman Play with Legos. It thought it was a creative and interesting way to portray the Everyman Play. I then began looking for "Lego Medieval Plays". I did not find anymore plays, but I did find this video of a Lego Medieval Villiage:

                     



The second video has music set to pictures. I looked up other clips of Medieval music and it seems to match up with the music in the above video.

Medieval Blog Entry Five

Oxford Reference Online defines cycle as:  “A group of works, usually narrative poems, that either share a common theme or subject (e.g. the Trojan war, Charlemagne, the Knights of the Round Table), or are linked together as a sequence. In addition to epics , sagas , romances , and chansons de geste , which scholars have categorized into different cycles, the mystery plays of the Middle Ages that were performed as a sequence during the same festival at a particular place are referred to as the York Cycle, the Chester Cycle, etc. The term is also applied to sequences of sonnets by the same author, and sometimes to sequences of novels or stories”

This definition came up when I searched “Chester Cycle”. I was fascinated that the definition that came up was just “cycle”. When reading the entry one can see that the definition is for a mystery play cycle. Not just a cycle in the dryer. The other definitions that I have seen of cycle plays are similar and line up with the ORO definition.

"cycle"  The Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms. Chris Baldick. Oxford University Press, 2008. Oxford Reference Online. Oxford University Press.  Central Washington University.  5 December 2010  <http://www.oxfordreference.com/views/ENTRY.html?subview=Main&entry=t56.e281>

The second Chester Cycle Play is about God creating the world, man, and woman. The first monologue is all God speaking as he creates the world. Adam wakes up and asks the Lord where he has been, and why he has been sleeping. The Serpent and Devil were played by the same person and were considered the same. This is because in the Bible the Devil becomes a serpent to tempt the woman.

Both Adam and Eve eat the fruit and realize that they are naked. They become ashamed and attempt to hide from God. God is disappointed with them and banishes them from the garden.

While searching for a picture of Adam and Eve I found these pictures of "Lego Adam and Eve". I thought it was entertaining.

Chester Cycle 1572/2010 A.F.Johnston, ed. (from Mills) Play 2 1

Chester Cycle 1572/2010

Play 2

Adam and Eve

Exposure Is the Great Evil » Lego Adam and Eve. Photograph. Coromandal. Web. 6 Dec. 2010. http://coromandal.wordpress.com/2009/08/26/exposure-is-the-great-evil/lego-adam-and-eve/.

The Serpent Tempts Adam and Eve. Photograph. Faith and Family. Web. 6 Dec. 2010. <http://www.faithandfamilylive.com/blog/more_biblical_bricks>.

Medieval Blog Entry Three

The Chester Plays are Mystery plays. Often times Mystery plays and Miracle plays are used interchangeably. “A play that dramatises an episode from the Old or New Testament is called a mystery; one that dramatises the life of a saint is a miracle.” The word “mystery” is derived from the French word mystère. Mystère means craft.

The plays became known as mystery plays because guildsmen began working on them. They would work on plays that involved their craft in some way. The drapery guild would use fabric and drapery in their pageant wagon.

The above picture is an interpretation of a dying guild

"Chester Mystery Plays." Chester Mystery Plays , 2008 . Web. 4 Dec 2010. <http://www.chestermysteryplays.com/background.html>

"Medieval Dyeing." Ciba Review 1: Medieval Dyeing. Web. 4 Dec 2010. http://www.elizabethancostume.net/cibas/ciba1.html

Medieval Blog Entry Two

The Chester Cycle plays started because in services in Roman Catholic Churches much of the service was in Latin. Many common people could not understand the services so monks began to perform plays based on Bible stories in the common language. The Chester Cycle is thought to have begun in Chester, England, at St. Werburgh’s Abbey. As the plays became more elaborate they moved the plays outside. In Chester the Guilds produced the plays.  They organized events that became known as the Chester Mystery Plays.

The plays were performed on pageant wagons that moved from location to location. The Chester plays were very elaborate and grandly decorated.

Airdrie, Kathleen. "History of the Chester Mystery Cycle." Chester Mystery Plays in Toronto, Canada. N.p., 21 Dec 2009 . Web. 4 Dec 2010. http://www.suite101.com/content/chester-mystery-plays-in-toronto-canada-a181922.

"Some History Behind Chester Cathedral ." Medieval & Religion site on Churches~Cathedrals,Castles. Web. 4 Dec 2010. <http://churchistory.webs.com/chestercathedral.htm>.

Medieval Blog Entry One

       The Chester Play Cycle has about 25 plays in it, depending on the translation. The Chester Cycle starts with the fall of Lucifer and ends with the last judgment. The University Of Toronto, Canada held a international conference in May 2010. Jessica Pribble helped design one of the pageant wagons that attended the conference. The goal of the conference was to create a festival as similar to what would have occurred in Medieval times as possible. Although the evidence that we have for festivals is limited the conference did the best they could.

       Pribble came to our class and lectured on the process her group went through to create their pageant wagon. They studied the symbolism from medieval times. Such as God and the sun and purple for royalty. They made the leaves on the trees to match a painting of the period. They had two trees, one to represent the Tree of Life and one to represent the Tree of Knowledge. Pribble’s group was very pleased with their final project and the festival was a great success.

The Chester Cycle. At From Stage to Page - Medieval and Renaissance Drama. NeCastro, Gerard, ed. http:www.umm.maine.edu/faculty/necastro/drama. 12/4/10.

Pageant. Photograph. Florilegium Urbanum. By Stephan Alsford. 1st Dec. 2010. Web. 6th Dec. 2010. <August 18, 2001.>.