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
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