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Mystery play

Mystery plays and miracle plays (they are distinguished as two different forms although the terms are often used interchangeably[1]) are among the earliest formally developed plays in medieval Europe. Medieval mystery plays focused on the representation of Bible stories in churches as tableaux with accompanying antiphonal song. They told of subjects such as the Creation, Adam and Eve, the murder of Abel, and the Last Judgment.[2] Often they were performed together in cycles which could last for days.[3] The name derives from mystery used in its sense of miracle,[4] but an occasionally quoted derivation is from ministerium, meaning craft, and so the 'mysteries' or plays performed by the craft guilds.[5]

For the graphic novella, see The Mystery Play.

Spanish mystery plays[edit]

The oldest liturgical drama in Spain is from the 12th century and kept today in Toledo Cathedral. It is a play about the Biblical Magi, three wise men from the East who followed a star and visited the baby Jesus in Bethlehem.[14] It is believed to have been based on an earlier play written in France.[15]


The Misteri d'Elx (in English, the Elx Mystery Play or Mystery Play of Elx) is a liturgical drama dating from the 13th century which has been enacted and celebrated every year without any known interruptions. Commemorating the Assumption of Mary, it is played on every 14 and 15 August in the Basilica de Santa María in the city of Elx (also known as Elche). The prohibition of theatrical plays in churches by the Council of Trent eventually threatened to interrupt the yearly performance of the Misteri, but in 1632 Pope Urban VIII issued a special permit for its continuation. In 2001, UNESCO declared it one of the Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity.

Miracle play[edit]

Miracle plays, or Saint's plays, are now distinguished from mystery plays as they specifically re-enacted miraculous interventions by the saints, particularly St. Nicholas or St. Mary, rather than biblical events.[16] Robert Chambers, writing in the 19th century, notes that "especially in England, miracle [came] to stand for religious play in general".[17]


Cornish language miracle plays, particularly the Ordinalia trilogy, the Beunans Meriasek, and the Bewnans Ke, were traditionally performed at the plain-an-gwarrys.[18] To capture the attention of the audience, "the plays were often noisy, bawdy and entertaining."[19]

Modern performances[edit]

Attention to the Medieval Mystery plays began to grow during the early 1800s, after their reference and publication by William Hone and James Heywood Markland. Notably, poet Lord Byron wrote the plays Cain and Heaven and Earth: A Mystery as modern version of medieval dramas on similar subjects. Mystery plays are produced regularly throughout the United Kingdom. The local cycles were revived in both York and Chester in 1951 as part of the Festival of Britain, and are still performed by the local guilds.[20] The N-Town cycle was revived in 1978 as the Lincoln mystery plays,[21] and in 1994 the Lichfield Mysteries were revived.[22]


In 1977 the National Theatre commissioned Tony Harrison to create The Mysteries, a re-working of the Wakefield Cycle and others.[23] It was again revived in 1985 (the production was filmed for Channel 4 Television), and as a part of the theatre's millennium celebration in 2000.[24] The productions won Bill Bryden the Best Director title in both the 1985 Evening Standard Theatre Awards and the 1985 Laurence Olivier Awards, the year the three plays first appeared together in performance at the Lyceum Theatre.[25]


In 2001, the Isango Ensemble produced an African version of the Chester Cycle at the Garrick Theatre in London as The Mysteries – Yiimimangaliso, performing in a combination of the Xhosa language, Zulu, English, Latin, and Afrikaans. They revived an adapted version of the production at Shakespeare's Globe in 2015 as The Mysteries.[26] In 2004, two mystery plays (one focusing on the Creation and the other on the Passion) were performed at Canterbury Cathedral, with actor Edward Woodward in the role of God. The large cast also included Daniel MacPherson, Thomas James Longley and Joseph McManners.[27]

Biblical Magi

Pedro Calderón de la Barca

Chester Mystery Plays

Easter Drama

El Gran Teatro del Mundo

Lincoln Mystery Plays

Liturgical drama

Medieval theatre

Mistero Buffo

- evolved from mystery plays

Morality play

Nativity play

Passion play

by Catherine Belsey

The Subject of Tragedy

- a collection of thirty-two mystery plays performed in medieval and early Renaissance England.

Wakefield Mystery Plays

- a collection of forty-eight mystery plays

York Mystery Plays

Anderson Magalhães, Le Comédies bibliques di Margherita di Navarra, tra evangelismo e mistero medievale, in La mujer: de los bastidores al proscenio en el teatro del siglo XVI, ed. de I. Romera Pintor y J. L. Sirera, Valencia, Publicacions de la Universitat de València, 2011, pp. 171–201.

The Official Lincoln Mystery Plays Website

The Official Chester Mystery Plays Website

at Victoria University of the University of Toronto

Records of Early English Drama (REED)

The York Mystery plays

2002 and 2006 York Mystery Plays

2012 Lincoln Mystery Plays

A simulator of the progress of the pageants in the York Mystery plays

Archived 21 November 2010 at the Wayback Machine

The Lichfield Mysteries

The York Cycle as performed in Toronto in 1998

Medieval Imaginations: literature and visual culture in the Middle Ages

Archived 22 December 2019 at the Wayback Machine

Tewkesbury's Millennia of Mummers' Heritage kept alive - United Kingdom

Michigan

Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). . Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.

"Miracle Plays and Mysteries"