Peter Happé

If you went to see some drama in the 15th and first half of the sixteenth century then you would more than likely see a morality play or a play from the mystery cycles, although there were also shorter "interludes". You would expect to experience moral or religious instruction or both and you would be familiar with the subject matter which would in some respects be similar to a sermon or other sort of preaching. The mystery cycles were concerned with theology and would usually tell a story from the life of Christ. Morality plays increasingly moved away from religious stories towards political or social themes, but the message of salvation and redemption would still figure prominently. A typical play would show it's hero trapped into sin by cunning devils and vices, but a change of heart through redemption and divine grace would at least save his soul, but may not save his life. There were no permanent theatres before 1576, but the actors would probably be largely professional players, who would set up a stage on suitable ground.

Morality plays used allegorical figures many of which would be vices and virtues familiar to the audience and these personifications of moral attributes would battle for the soul of the hero. The four plays in this Penguin English Library edition show how the moral stories developed, introducing satire and obscenity into the mix to provide a more complete and probably more intellectual experience. There does not seem to be much actual drama in the plays, as much of it based on dialogue and so in some respects they lend themselves to being read. The Plays are:

The Castle of Perseverence - Anonymous written in 1440
This is unusual in that it has a cast of 36 players and called for an extremely large staging area. A castle in the form of a single tower a circular ditch surrounding a playing area and outside of this five scaffolds. Mankind is first seen in bed in the tower and on the scaffolds are God, Flesh, World, Belyal (daemon) and Covetousness. The play revolves around the temptation of man to take his place on the scaffold of covetousness, There are the seven deadly sins as well as good and bad angels; seven virtues offer to help mankind in his fight and there is a battle in the middle of the arena. Mankind is eventually won over by the temptation of money and is struck dead, however there is redemption in the form of God's mercy and the soul of man is saved from hell. Most of the play is written in stanzas of 13 lines with a regular rhyming scheme and typically characters speak for a whole stanza. The lines are written in a similar style to Langland's Piers Ploughman with heavy use of alliteration, but there are variations with shortened lines. This play is about the salvation of man's soul and as such can be linked more closely to the mystery cycle as there is little political or social comment.

Magnyfycence - John Skelton written in about 1518
This is Skelton's masterpiece and he uses all his skills as a poet to produce a play with varied verse forms. He uses rime royal for most of the telling episodes and other verse forms to suit the mood of the play. The story again is about the temptation of a hero, but the hero in this case is Magnyfycence, who may be Henry VIII (Skelton was his tutor for a time) or is certainly an allegory for kingship. The main theme is the Kings use of his wealth and there are various allegorical characters enticing him to spend frivolously; Crafty Conveyance, Cloked Colusyon, Courtly Abusyon, Counterfeit Countenance, are courtiers around the King who lead him astray and overcome the wise words of Felycyte and Measure, Lyberte is given freedom and Magnyfycence is ruined. The message here is that the king himself must overcome his own wilfulness to gain redemption. This play has of course a high political and instructional content and is in fact a guide to good kingship. There is some quick fire dialogue as well as some set speeches, but the play is still allegorical.

King Johan - John Bale written between 1538-60 (there are three versions)
This play is protestant propaganda and uses the historical figure of King John to demonstrate what can happen to England if the king bows before the Pope and his clergy in running the country. England and the King is brought to it's knees by the corruption of the catholic church and in this case the king must die before his soul can be saved. Again the figures in the play are allegorical with Usurpid power and Sedicyon working with Private wealth to win Nobylyte over to the side of the clerics as they rob the king of his kingdom. There is much fierce condemnation of the church and its practises and the theme emerges of the protestant monarch foiled in his attempts to rely on scripture to institute God's will. The play does not contain the poetry of Skelton's Magnyfycence, but it is well written and brings home its points forcefully.

The Satire of the Three Estaitis - Sir David Lindsay written 1540-1544
This play mixes allegorical figures with real life portraits, with Lindsay more intent in speaking the plain truth. Lindsay's play leans towards the protestant position as it contains the usual attacks on the catholic church, but it is not an exercise in propaganda that distinguishes John Bale's King Johan.

The plays themselves are not easy reading as the form of the old English has been kept, only the letters have been modernised. The earlier play The Castle of Perseverance, uses the English of Langland and Chaucer, although there are translations of the more difficult words at the bottom of each page. The English gets easier with Skelton and is almost recognisable when we get to John Bale. Unfortunately Sir David Lindsay's largely old Scottish language defeated me for the most part. The advantage of an unmodernised text is the scansion and the feel of the poetry, which is certainly important for Skelton's play and I prefer to see it this way. These plays are probably not for the casual reader, but with Peter Happe's superb introduction they are excellent for anyone with an interest in early British drama and so a four star rating from me.… (more)