Playing a Part in History: The York Mysteries, 1951 - 2006

308 Pages·2009·1.789 MB·English

by  Margaret Rogerson

PLAYING A PART IN HISTORY:
THE YORK MYSTERIES, 1951–2006
STUDIES IN EARLY ENGLISH DRAMA 10
General Editor: J.A.B. Somerset
MARGARET ROGERSON
Playing a Part in History:
The York Mysteries, 1951–2006
UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO PRESS
Toronto Buffalo London
©University of Toronto Press Incorporated 2009
Toronto Buffalo London
www.utppublishing.com
Printed in Canada
ISBN 978-0-8020–9924-2
Printed on acid-free paper
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Rogerson, Margaret, 1946–
Playing a part in history : the York mysteries, 1951–2006 / Margaret
Rogerson.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-8020-9924-2
1. York plays. 2. Theater – England – York – History – 20th century.
3. Theater – England – York – History – 21st century. 4. Mysteries and miracle-
plays, English – England – York – History and criticism. 5. English drama –
England – York – History and criticism. 6. York (England) – History. I. Title.
PN2596.Y6R63 2009 792.1'60942843 C2008-906304-X
University of Toronto Press acknowledges the financial assistance to its
publishing program of the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario
Arts Council.
University of Toronto Press acknowledges the financial support for its
publishing activities of the Government of Canada through the Book
Publishing Industry Development Program (BPIDP).
Contents
List of Illustrations vii
Preface ix
Acknowledgments xiii
Prologue 3
1 From Medieval Religious Festival to the Festival of Britain 18
2 Dramatic Transformations: Performance Spaces and Scripts 39
3 A Leap of Faith 61
4 Theatre of Cruelty 82
5 Theatre of the People 101
6 Storm Clouds over the Museum Gardens 122
7 Indoor Mysteries 142
8 Theatre of the Streets 161
Epilogue: Ongoing Mysteries 195
Appendix 1: Music in the Outdoor Mysteries 205
Appendix 2: Biographies 209
Appendix 3: Digest of Plays, Directors, and Performers 216
Notes 225
Works Cited 263
Index 279
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Illustrations
Map The route of the York Mysteries in the Middle Ages: based on
Edwin Ridsdale Tate’s pencil, watercolour, and pen and black
ink image, ‘York in the Fifteenth Century’ (1914): reproduced
by permission of the Mansion House, City of York Council 2
Plate 1 ‘The Road to Calvary,’ Museum Gardens, 1954: reproduced by
permission of The Press, York 49
Plate 2 ‘The Shepherds,’ Museum Gardens, 1957: reproduced by per-
mission of The Press, York 72
Plate 3 ‘Deposition from the Cross,’ Museum Gardens, 1960: repro-
duced by permission of The Press, York 90
Plate 4 ‘Christ’ chats to members of the crowd on the set, Museum
Gardens, 1976: reproduced by permission of The Press,
York 111
Plate 5 Three ‘Christs’ at rehearsal, Museum Gardens, 1988: repro-
duced by permission of The Press, York 133
Plate 6 ‘Christ’s Appearance to Mary Magdalene,’ Theatre Royal,
1992: reproduced by permission of The Press, York 147
Plate 7 Assembled cast and crew of the Minster production, 2000:
reproduced by permission of The Press, York 157
Plate 8 ‘Christ before the Elders’ wagon, 1960: reproduced by permis-
sion of The Press, York 167
Plate 9 ‘The Flood’ wagon, 1966: reproduced by permission of The
Press, York 170
Plate 10 ‘The Crucifixion’ wagon, 1992: photograph by Margaret
Rogerson 179
Plate 11 ‘The Creation to the Fifth Day’ wagon, 2006: photograph by
Margaret Rogerson 186
viii Illustrations
Plate 12 ‘The Last Judgment’ wagon, 2002: photograph by Margaret
Rogerson 188
Plate 13 ‘The Last Judgment’ wagon, 2006: photograph by Margaret
Rogerson 190
Plate 14 ‘The Entry into Jerusalem’ wagon, 2006: photograph by
Margaret Rogerson 192
Preface
Terminology
The York mystery plays, or ‘mysteries’ for short, do not constitute a
seamless whole but are a series of self-contained episodes based on the
biblical history of God’s relationship with humanity, beginning with the
Creation and ending with the Last Judgment. In the surviving records of
medieval York, where their first performance history extended from the
late fourteenth to the late sixteenth century, they are referred to either as
‘Corpus Christi’ plays, a reflection of their customary performance on
the religious festival of that name, or simply as the ‘Play’; the episodes
themselves are sometimes called ‘pageants,’ a word that can also refer to
the wagon stages on which they were performed.1
The coinage ‘cycle of mystery plays’ appeared in the title of the York text
published by Rev. J.S. Purvis for the 1951 Festival of Britain production, the
beginning of their second performance history, which is the subject of the
present study. Local community performances of such dramas were com-
monly referred to at that time as ‘mystery plays,’ and the name has been
retained in this context ever since. But there are other designations that
require some explanation since they are adopted in the academic criticism
that I refer to in the course of this book.2 Carl Stratman’s scholarly Bibliog-
raphy of Medieval Drama, which appeared in 1954, just three years after
the first revival production of the mysteries in York, contains citations in
which the nomenclature includes ‘Corpus Christi play,’ ‘cycle’ or ‘craft
cycle,’ ‘pageants,’ ‘mystery play,’ ‘miracle play,’ and ‘scriptural drama.’
‘Corpus Christi’ and ‘pageant’ are, as I have mentioned, original appel-
lations. ‘Cycle’ is a fitting appropriation of the nineteenth-century liter-
ary sense of the word as it was applied to collections of interrelated