Feb 22, 2024
Gregory Roper, a professor of literature at the University of Dallas, joins the podcast to discuss medieval “mystery plays” (also called “miracle plays”). In England these plays, often grouped together in cycles spanning all of salvation history, were performed by town guilds for the festival of Corpus Christi. This tradition, which developed out of the liturgy, could be said to represent the revival of drama in Europe, and was an important influence on the Elizabethan theatre. Shakespeare referenced this tradition a number of times in his plays.
The plays, which served a partly didactic purpose, are full of theological typology, but also delightful verse, earthy humor, and a thought-provoking use of anachronism.
Links
Episode on English carols https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/episode-59-glorious-english-carol/
A.C. Cawley, Everyman and Medieval Miracle Plays https://www.amazon.com/Everyman-Medieval-Miracle-Plays-Cawley/dp/046087280X
SIGN UP for Catholic Culture's newsletter http://www.catholicculture.org/newsletter