mystery plays
Biblical pageant wagons
Mystery plays are medieval dramatic performances depicting stories from the Bible, from Creation through the Last Judgment.
Performed by craft guilds in towns across Europe, particularly England, they were staged on wagons or platforms during religious festivals.
The "mystery" refers not to puzzles but to the Latin *ministerium* (craft or occupation), connecting these plays to the trade guilds that produced them.
Staged public display
- guildsCraftsmen's mutual aid societies
- cycleRepeating sequence of events
- YorkHistoric English city
- ChesterEnglish city or name
Wakefield · Coventry · manuscripts · tableaux · vernacular · wagon · scaffold · stations
Those playing roles
- stageRaised performance platform
- audienceGathered viewers collectively
- costumesClothes for assuming roles
- dialogueSpoken exchange between parties
rehearsal · script · scenery · props · spectacle · reenactment · mansions · doubling
Symbolic tale with deeper meaning
- virtueMoral goodness or merit
- viceBad habit or deputy
- temptationUrge toward the unwise
- conscienceInternal moral sense
sin · redemption · salvation · good · evil · penance · repentance · soul
Intense emotional drive
- crucifixionExecution by cross
- resurrectionRevival from death
- nativityState of being born
- creationMaking something exist
fall · Noah · Abraham · Moses · Last Judgment · prophets · apostles · disciples
Latin for Christ's body
- feastElaborate ceremonial meal
- processionFormal moving line
- liturgyFormal worship structure
- altarSacred ritual table
clergy · sacrament · ecclesiastical · holy days · Whitsun · church calendar · devotional · sacred
pageant
Staged public display
Chester · Wakefield · Coventry · manuscripts · tableaux · vernacular · wagon · scaffold · stations · craft guilds
actors
Those playing roles
- stageRaised performance platform
- audienceGathered viewers collectively
- costumesClothes for assuming roles
dialogue · rehearsal · script · scenery · props · spectacle · reenactment · mansions · doubling
allegory
Symbolic tale with deeper meaning
- virtueMoral goodness or merit
- viceBad habit or deputy
- temptationUrge toward the unwise
conscience · sin · redemption · salvation · good · evil · penance · repentance · soul · Everyman
passion
Intense emotional drive
- crucifixionExecution by cross
- resurrectionRevival from death
- nativityState of being born
creation · fall · Noah · Abraham · Moses · Last Judgment · prophets · apostles · disciples · parables
Corpus Christi
Latin for Christ's body
- feastElaborate ceremonial meal
- processionFormal moving line
- liturgyFormal worship structure
altar · clergy · sacrament · ecclesiastical · holy days · Whitsun · church calendar · devotional · sacred · celebration
mystery playsfarce
Absurd, laughable situation
burlesque · comedy of manners · music hall · vaudeville · interludes
mystery playsElizabethan drama
Late sixteenth-century English theater
commercial theater · professional theater · Broadway · modern drama · contemporary theater
mystery, mysterious, mystical, mystic, mysteries, mysticism, mysteriously, mystically, mystics