Passion Plays in the United Kingdom
Development of Passion Plays and Mystery Cycles
### Development of Passion Plays and Mystery Cycles

The [Mystery Plays](/wiki/Mystery_Plays "Mystery Plays") were, at the height of their popularity, entire cycles of individual plays which involved the entire city. City [guilds](/wiki/Guilds "Guilds") were responsible for different plays in the cycle.Pickering, K. Key Concepts in Drama and Performance (Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005\) In [York](/wiki/York "York"), for example, the [Flood](/wiki/Flood "Flood") was performed by the Fishers and Mariners, the [Slaughter of the Innocents](/wiki/Massacre_of_the_Innocents "Massacre of the Innocents") by the Girdlers and Nailers, the [Crucifixion](/wiki/Crucifixion "Crucifixion") by the Butchers,The York Butchers Gild, The York Butchers Gild \- The York Butchers Gild the [Resurrection](/wiki/Resurrection "Resurrection") by the Carpenters and the [Last Judgement](/wiki/Last_Judgement "Last Judgement") by the [Mercers](/wiki/Mercers "Mercers"). Costumes and props were also used by the guilds and often included a gilded face for [God](/wiki/God "God") in creation plays, a donkey outfit for the [Balaam](/wiki/Balaam "Balaam") plays, fake blood for the crucifixion and a flaming hell mouth with fireworks for the increasingly dramatic [Last Judgement](/wiki/Last_Judgement "Last Judgement") as the world was destroyed in a flames and sparks.

Other special effects were created by the pageant wagon itself which was offered at its simplest a raised stage and at its most sophisticated a two\-story structure which had machinery to raise and lower angels and also a trapdoor that opened up to hell.Helen Cooper, Shakespeare and the Medieval World (Bloomsbury: London, 2010\). This hell mouth became an increasingly spectacular construct and engravings show a gaping, monstrous mouth spurting flames and engulfing men and women who were bound for [hell](/wiki/Hell "Hell").

According to Beadle and King, the guilds’ involvement indicated the sanctity of everyday life: a recognition that their labour and produce came from God and should be used to honour God. Furthermore, [Mystery Plays](/wiki/Mystery_Plays "Mystery Plays") offered spectators a spiritual experience as well as entertainment.Beadle, Richard and Pamela King. York Mystery Plays: A Selection in Modern Spelling (Oxford University Press, 2009\). As Dee Dyas (1997\) puts it, the audience were ‘vital players in this epic drama, for the mystery cycles, the miracles or saint’s plays and the moralities were all designed to warn and win souls’ Dyas, Dee. Images of Faith in English Literature 700\-1500: An Introduction (London and New York: Longman, 1997\), (p.225\).

The [Mystery Plays](/wiki/Mystery_Plays "Mystery Plays") were highly popular performances that brought the city’s citizens together, as well as attracting visitors from surrounding cities and towns.King, Pamela and Clifford Davidson, The Coventry Corpus Christi Plays (Medieval Institute Publications: Western Michigan University Press, 2000\). Royal and noble visitors to cities which performed Mystery Plays had special plays put on for them, such as those put on by the guilds of Coventry for [Margaret of Anjou](/wiki/Margaret_of_Anjou "Margaret of Anjou") in 1457 (who was reportedly disappointed that she missed the [Draper's](/wiki/Draper "Draper") Doomsday play due to lack of daylight), [Richard III](/wiki/Richard_III "Richard III") in 1485 (less than three months before his death), and [Henry VIII](/wiki/Henry_VIII "Henry VIII") in 1493 (King and Davidson, 2000\). Mystery Plays thus promoted civic prestige and economy, adding to the reputation of the town as well as the honour of God in what Dyas (1997\) terms a ‘neat blend of religious fervour and burgeoning civic pride.Dyas, Dee. Images of Faith in English Literature 700\-1500: An Introduction (London and New York: Longman, 1997\), (p.227\).

Public performances of Passion Plays lasted from the fourteenth century to the middle of the sixteenth century, with a few examples into the seventeenth century. There is a reference to playing [Christ](/wiki/Christ "Christ") in a medieval Passion Play is found in a [Good Friday](/wiki/Good_Friday "Good Friday") sermon:'Fourteenth Century Passion Play', Passion Trust, [https://passiontrust.org/fourteenth\-passion\-play](https://passiontrust.org/fourteenth-passion-play)

> When the game was over, all the players talked among themselves and considered playing again; and one of them said, "Who shall be Christ?" The others said, "He who played today, since he played well."

According to Helen Cooper, performances of the Mystery Cycle ‘…continued well into Elizabeth’s reign, and in places further from the centre of government – Cornwall, where the plays were in Cornish; Kendal; Kilkenny – comparable plays are recorded into the seventeenth century'.


How were Mystery Plays performed?