Passion Plays and Medieval Drama - Valerie Fliss

Medieval drama was an interesting thing, because it was both condoned and condemned by the Church. Theater troupes were considered sinful and were feared because it was feared they spread loose morals within communities; the act of pretending to be someone you are not, denying the identity given to you by the grace of God, is a sin itself. However, the Church also tried to get control of medieval drama, not only to prevent troupes from becoming to rowdy, but also so that they could benefit from it.

Before the Vatican Councils, the language of the Mass and liturgy was Latin, and most people in the Middle Ages could not understand Latin, so they were loosing out of the whole religious experience. However, in sponsoring drama, the Church could preach in the vernacular language, and spread religious thought that way. The sacred space of the theater allowed the Church to reach people in a way, not only telling the people stories, but also showing them the actions of God. Passion plays, or plays of the Crucifixion, are very powerful because they not only portrayed the last actions of Christ to reinforce Church teachings, but they forced the audience to participate as well. Early plays were very communal, and played out in the backs of carts and wagons in marketplaces, so that anyone really could watch or even participate. In the Passion, when the crowd demands Barabbas instead of Jesus, the audience then becomes that crowd because they were encouraged to shout along.

Theater, or drama, is classified by Van der Leeuw's schema as part of God the Father, or the creating Divine. It is the very essence of world-creating, because in acting the play, you are creating an alternate world with your actions, and those actions then also reinforce the abstract symbolism behind the drama. It is very self-perpetuating. And when the audience is incorporated into the drama, the boundaries of the sacred stage are dissolved for just a second, and the created world and real world merge together. In encouraging passion plays and other sorts of allegorical drama, the medieval Church was allowing the people to participate in this sort of world-creation, and giving them a lesson in faith and religion that going to Mass on Sunday couldn't accomplish.