Miracle Play
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, into the lives of ordinary people, rather than biblical events; however both of these terms are more commonly used by modern scholars than they were by medieval people, who used a wide variety of terminology to refer to their dramatic performances. Robert Chambers, writing in 19th century notes that "especially in England, miracle to stand for religious play in general".
Miracle plays were written in the Cornish language and performed in plain-an-gwarrys. To capture the attention of the audience, "the plays were often noisy, bawdy and entertaining".
Read more about this topic: Mystery Play
Famous quotes containing the words miracle and/or play:
“This was your place of birth, this daytime palace,
This miracle of glass....”
—Philip Larkin (1922–1986)
“When I began to have a fire at evening, before I plastered my house, the chimney carried smoke particularly well, because of the numerous chinks between the boards.... Should not every apartment in which man dwells be lofty enough to create some obscurity overhead, where flickering shadows may play at evening about the rafters? These forms are more agreeable to the fancy and imagination than fresco paintings or other the most expensive furniture.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)