The Chester Mystery Plays is a cycle of

mystery play Mystery plays and miracle plays (they are distinguished as two different forms although the terms are often used interchangeably) are among the earliest formally developed plays in medieval Europe. Medieval mystery plays focused on the represe ...

s originating in the city of

Chester Chester is a cathedral city in Cheshire, England, on the River Dee, Wales, River Dee, close to the England–Wales border. With a built-up area population of 92,760 in 2021, it is the most populous settlement in the borough of Cheshire West an ...

, England and dating back to at least the early part of the 15th century.

Origin and history

Biblical dramas were being performed in Latin across continental Europe as early as the 10th century dramatizing the events surrounding the birth of Christ.Zarrilli, B. Phillip, et al. Theatre Histories: An Introduction. Second Edition ed., Routledge, 2010. 73-75 By the late 12th century, biblical plays were performed outside of churches and were written in vernacular languages. They still emphasized incidents of the Old and New Testaments but were more dramatic and less strict about following biblical accounts. The 1150 AD performance titled The Play of Adam from Norman France dramatized the fall of Adam in the garden of Eden. The inclusion of drama was extremely popular among the French population and found similar popularity in England. In the 14th century, vernacular Bible dramas were performed across England for three main reasons: the introduction of the Feast of Corpus Christi, the growing population of towns and municipal governments independent of feudal lords, and the development of trade guilds.

Pope Urban IV Pope Urban IV (; c. 1195 – 2 October 1264), born Jacques Pantaléon, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 29 August 1261 to his death three years later. He was elected pope without being a cardinal; he was the fi ...

created the Feast of Corpus Christi in 1264 to celebrate the literal presence of Christ within the bread and wine of the Catholic Eucharist. The feast occurred on

Trinity Sunday Trinity Sunday is the first Sunday after Pentecost in the Western Christianity, Western Christian liturgical year, liturgical calendar, and the Sunday of Pentecost in Eastern Christianity. Trinity Sunday celebrates the Christian doctrine of the ...

between May and June, and priests processed through the streets displaying the “Host” of Jesus which was a consecrated wafer encased within a casket. The urbanization of townships resulted in populations becoming increasingly dependent on each other, enabling the specialization of labor. There were trade guilds for bakers, tailors, and goldsmiths who trained apprentices and regulated wages and working conditions. These skilled laborers working with their local communities helped build the stages and props for the performances. Subsequently, the staging of these dramatic performances became increasingly urban and informed from continental Europe by constant trade crossing the channel into England. The “Host” would be accompanied by a tableau of biblical scenes which represented sacred Christian history which is the origin of the cycle plays. By 1394, biblical plays were being performed in York, England. The usage of pageant wagons enabled performances to travel across the country to various communities throughout England. The plays attracted people to the towns, and communities benefited from the commercial trade. The Mystery plays were banned nationally in the 16th century. Chester was the last to concede in 1578 and so became the longest-running cycle in medieval times. It was revived in 1951 for the Festival of Britain, and they have since been staged every five years. Prior to the performance, the Crier (officer) read out these banns: "The Aldermen and stewards of every society and company draw yourselves to your said several companies according to Ancient Custom and so to appear with your said several Companies every man as you are Called upon pain that shall fall thereon". Such early banns exhorted each company to perform well. Under Queen

Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was List of English monarchs, Queen of England and List of Irish monarchs, Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. She was the last and longest reigning monarch of the House of Tudo ...

, the plays were seen as " Popery" and banned by the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

. Despite this, a play cycle was performed in 1568 and the cathedral paid for the stage and beer as in 1562. They were performed in 1572 despite a protest by a minister. One edition of the plays begins with "The Banes which are reade beefore the beginninge of the playes of Chester, 4 June 1600". Each play ends with "Finis. Deo gracias! per me Georgi Bellin. 1592".

Modern revivals

The stage for the 2008 Chester Mystery Plays - geograph

The plays were revived in Chester in 1951 as part of the Festival of Britain and are presented there every five years. The Players of St Peter have been performing the plays in London roughly every five years since 1946. The American Theatre of Actors in New York City performed the penultimate play, ''The Coming of Antichrist'', in August 2017.

Adaptations

In the twentieth century, the Noah's Flood play was set operatically by both

Benjamin Britten Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten of Aldeburgh (22 November 1913 – 4 December 1976) was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He was a central figure of 20th-century British music, with a range of works including opera, o ...

('' Noye's Fludde'') and

Igor Stravinsky Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky ( – 6 April 1971) was a Russian composer and conductor with French citizenship (from 1934) and American citizenship (from 1945). He is widely considered one of the most important and influential 20th-century c ...

('' The Flood''). The play regarded the relationship between wife and husband (urban life) and spoke about the physical and spiritual world that provides a backdrop of the play. Britten also set the Abraham and Isaac play as '' Canticle II: Abraham and Isaac''. ''

The Mysteries ''The Mysteries'' is a cycle of three medieval English mystery plays first presented at London's National Theatre in 1977 which tell a story of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. Background It is based largely on the Wakefield cycle of p ...

'' is an adaption by poet Tony Harrison, principally based upon the Wakefield Cycle, but incorporating scenes from the

York York is a cathedral city in North Yorkshire, England, with Roman Britain, Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers River Ouse, Yorkshire, Ouse and River Foss, Foss. It has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a Yor ...

, Chester, and N-Town canons. It was first performed in 1977 at the National Theatre and revived in 2000 as a celebration of the millennium.

References

External links

The Official Chester Mystery Plays Website
- the website of the Chester Mystery Cycle with news of the performance in June 2008.

- free downloadable media clips from the Chester Mystery Cycle performance of 2003, featuring full mp3 audio track 'Christ Theme' and video excerpt from the performance.
The original text

Origin and history

Modern revivals

Adaptations

See also

References

External links

Further reading