MEDIEVAL PERFORMANCE

Medieval Performance

Towneley Second Shepherds' Play - Medieval Performance

Introduction to the play

In comparison to other theatrical forms, processional staging is an extremely taxing endeavour that is known to take its toll on all who are involved. In addition to planning an evidently defined circuit which can traverse in a reasonable amount of time and also keeping it in a less or more synchronized schedule, the stagehands and the actors find themselves facing numerous difficulties that are altogether diminished or absent in the traditional theatre. These are normally a constant rigor or portrayal of a single episode in a continuous loop throughout the day thereby creating problems.

The unique manuscript is housed in San Marino, California at the Huntington Library, and was originated in the mid 15th century. The family who lent their name to the unique manuscript, the Towneley family, in 1814 had sold it at an auction, but it was most probably at a much earlier fate a part of their library database, and even though almost entirely the whole manuscript is in a 15th century hand, the cycle is known to be performed to as early as in the 14th century in a much earlier form.

Towneley Mystery Plays or the Wakefield are a series of 32 mystery plays which are based on Bible and are most likely performed around the Corpus Christi feast in the town of Wakefield in England until 1576 during the late Middle Ages. It is also one of the only four surviving cycles of English mystery plays. The paper talks about my idea on staging of the Townelsey Seecond Shepherds' Play.

Discussion

The Second Shepherds' Play

The second Shepherds' play also widely known as the second Shepherds' Pageant is one of the most famous and possibly one of the few original plays from the medieval mystery plays. It is known to be contained in a manuscript of the Wakefield cycle. The name was received because of the fact that in the manuscript, there is another nativity play involving shepherds which is immediately followed by it. In fact there has been a hypothesis that the second play was actually the revision of the first play. It also appears that both of the shepherd plays were not meant to be performed together as many of the ideas and themes of the second play is carried over by the first one, like in both plays it is very clear ...