Name: Rachel Kenny (17312841)
Module Co-Ordinator: Dr Ashley Taggart
Theatre Context and Convention DRAM10010
Semester 2, 2017/2018
The Second Shepherds’ Play
The play which I will be discussing in my essay today is The Second Shepherd’s Play. I will discuss: the historical, social and theatrical context in which the play was first performed; the stage space and its relationship with the audience; the positions of the scenes in the play; the characterisation; the dramatic language in the play; the performance conventions in the play.
Medieval Culture & Society
There were three stages in the Medieval World; the Early Middle Ages, the High Middle Ages and the Late Middle Ages – coming into the Renaissance and also, the time of Mystery plays.
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The guilds held power as they determined who was elected for mayor and for the council, the people who would ultimately be responsible for decisions on civic matters in the village. (Flynn 2018) It is also important to note these guilds were where the plays would take place. The Medieval guilds were put into two categories; merchant guilds and craft guilds. There were no fixed venues for theatre at the time. The plays would have generally been performed on some type of movable object, such as a wagon, so that the performance could take place in various locations. There were also two parts to the medieval stages; the mansions and the platea. The mansions were scenic structures used to represent locales. They were intended to portray a certain place however, they were not required to so fully. Meanwhile the plateas were the undifferentiated part of the stage and were usually interpreted to be a part of the place represented by the mansions. (Flynn 2018) The Second Shepherds’ Play was a mystery play which were generally performed during the festival of Corpus Christi. In relation to the Second Shepherds’ Play, the mansions portrayed Paradise and Hell while the platea portrayed the undifferentiated scenery.
The position of the scene in the play, and the structure and rhythm of the scene; exits and