Mystery and miracle plays

Medieval religious plays that present biblical stories or stories of miracles performed by saints.

found: The Oxford companion to the theatre, 1983:Mystery play (medieval religious play which derives from Liturgical Drama, but differs in being wholly or partly in the vernacular and not chanted but spoken. Also, it was performed out of doors, in front of the church, in the market square, or on perambulating Pageants. The earlier English name for it was Miracle Play, now seldom used, and a better name would be Bible-histories, since each play was really a cycle of plays based on the Bible, from the Creation to the Second Coming) Miracle play (in English medieval times a synonym for Mystery Play; in France the term was used for plays in which the central incident was a miraculous intervention in human affairs by the Virgin Mary or one of the saints, St Nicholas being a favourite subject)

found: Baldick, C. The Oxford dictionary of literary terms, 2008:miracle play (A kind of medieval religious play representing non-scriptural legends of saints or of the Virgin Mary. The term is often confusingly applied also to the mystery plays, which form a distinct body of drama based on biblical stories) mystery play (A major form of popular medieval religious drama, representing a scene from the Old or New Testament) pageant (A wagon used as a mobile stage on which were performed mystery plays and related dramas in the Middle Ages. The term is sometimes also applied to a play performed on such a moveable stage, usually a mystery play)

found: Quinn, E. A dictionary of literary and thematic terms, c1999:mystery plays (Medieval plays that depict scenes from the Bible. The plays were made up of individual episodes that formed a cycle covering the range of biblical history from the story of Adam to the Last Judgment; productions were extraordinary spectacles, performed in cities in connection with certain feast days, particularly the feast of Corpus Christi) miracle play (A form of medieval drama centered on a miracle performed either by the Virgin Mary or a saint. The term miracle play is also sometimes used to describe the English cycle plays more commonly referred to as mystery plays, although the latter term is usually reserved for plays based upon biblical incidents.)

found: Cuddon, J.A. A dictionary of literary terms and literary theory, 1998(pageant: Originally the movable stage or platform on which the medieval mystery plays were presented. Later, the term was applied to plays acted on this platform)

found: OCLC, Mar. 12, 2014(titles: English Corpus Christi cycle drama; The Magi character in the cycle drama; The comic elements in the Corpus Christi drama; The harrowing of hell in the English mystery cycles : perspectives on the Corpus Christi drama; Two Coventry Corpus Christi plays; Period pieces : remnants of mystery drama in Shakespeare; The saint's play in medieval England; The saint play in medieval Europe)

found: Encyclopædia Britannica online, Nov. 12, 2012(sacra rappresentazione, (Italian: "holy performance"), in theatre, 15th-century Italian ecclesiastical drama similar to the mystery plays of France and England and the auto sacramental of Spain. Originating and flourishing in Florence, these religious dramas represented scenes from the Old and New Testaments, from pious legends, and from the lives of the saints)

found: Italian Wikipedia, Nov. 12, 2012(under Sacra rappresentazione: sacre rappresentazioni; rappresentazioni sacre)

Medieval religious plays that present biblical stories or stories of miracles performed by saints.

Suggest terminology

The LC Linked Data Service welcomes any suggestions you might have about terminology used for a given heading or concept.

Would you like to suggest a change to this heading?

Please provide your name, email, and your suggestion so that we can begin assessing any terminology changes.

Fields denoted with an asterisk (*) are required.