Mansion Stage - Sociohistorical Context

Sociohistorical Context

After the fall of the Roman Empire structured drama became practically nonexistent. Theatrical performances persisted in some small degree through local and travelling troupes of what would later be called minstrels. These minstrels, along with the monastery scholars, would carry the knowledge and tradition of the Roman Theatre until the revival of theatre in the Early Middle Ages, beginning around 500 C.E. As the church’s power grew, they attempted to absorb the pagan religions. In order to draw people in, while allowing them to keep a sense of their traditions, they superimposed Christian theology on pagan holiday celebrations. Easter was already the appropriate time of year to take the place of the spring fertility festivals. The Roman festivals celebrating the births of Dionysus, Osiris, and other lesser deities became Christmas, despite Christ’s birth never being celebrated in the winter before.

To keep up with the elaborate and theatrical celebrations found in the pagan religions, the church began creating spectacle performances. For example, they might place a cross wrapped in burial clothes in a tomb on Good Friday and raise it on Sunday, or stage elaborate mystery plays such as the one the lasted multiple days in the town of Mons, France. The processionals evolved into the liturgical dramas of the high Middle Ages. By 1300, the performance of liturgical dramas in churches was widespread across Western Europe, and so began the use of mansions and plateas, which persisted throughout the Middle Ages.

In the 14th Century, the Church in England, in an attempt to continue to spark interest and devotion to the church, began to build movable mansions, called pageant wagons, to carry to different parts of town to create an elaborate travelling show. Carrying the performances out of the church, the play slowly became more secular. Audiences prized the comic characters such as lesser demons and drunks, and those who played them well, reigniting professionalism in performance. The use of mansions, and eventually pageant wagons helped to create an affirmation of faith in the church in the Middle Ages.