Glossary

Mystery Play(s)

1)     In the late Middle Ages street theatre developed with the aid of verse plays which were often based on the stories from the scriptures. These were very popular and were presented by the medieval guilds often on carts from which the actors would declaim in the vernacular. For many people this was the only way they could familiarise themselves with the stories from the Bible as this was not available to them in their mother tongue but remained untranslated from the Latin. There are many ‘cycles’ or collections of these plays from York, Chester and elsewhere still available.

1 Terms with 1 Definitions