1 00:00:17,883 --> 00:00:19,782 In the 11th and 12th centuries, 2 00:00:19,783 --> 00:00:22,55 most English commoners were illiterate. 3 00:00:22,55 --> 00:00:24,77 Since they had no way to learn the Bible, 4 00:00:24,77 --> 00:00:26,547 the clergy came up with an inventive solution: 5 00:00:26,547 --> 00:00:29,127 they'd create plays out of certain Bible stories 6 00:00:29,127 --> 00:00:31,878 so even people who couldn't read could learn them. 7 00:00:31,879 --> 00:00:33,271 These were called mystery plays 8 00:00:33,271 --> 00:00:35,939 because they revealed the mystery of God's word. 9 00:00:35,939 --> 00:00:37,186 At about the same time, 10 00:00:37,186 --> 00:00:38,970 the clergy also developed plays 11 00:00:38,970 --> 00:00:40,244 about the saints of the church, 12 00:00:40,244 --> 00:00:41,904 called miracle plays. 13 00:00:41,904 --> 00:00:42,859 In the beginning, 14 00:00:42,859 --> 00:00:44,610 the clergy members acted out Bible stories 15 00:00:44,610 --> 00:00:47,29 on the steps outside the cathedral. 16 00:00:47,29 --> 00:00:48,906 The audience reacted so well 17 00:00:48,906 --> 00:00:51,25 that soon they needed to move out to the street 18 00:00:51,26 --> 00:00:52,573 around the town square. 19 00:00:52,573 --> 00:00:55,99 By building moving carts to put on each play 20 00:00:55,99 --> 00:00:56,815 and by lining up one after the other, 21 00:00:56,816 --> 00:00:58,828 they could put on cycles of stories, 22 00:00:58,828 --> 00:00:59,997 which would take the viewer 23 00:00:59,997 --> 00:01:00,695 from Genesis 24 00:01:00,695 --> 00:01:02,39 to Revelation. 25 00:01:02,39 --> 00:01:03,915 These movable carts, called pageants, 26 00:01:03,915 --> 00:01:06,545 looked like huge boxes on wheels. 27 00:01:06,545 --> 00:01:08,379 Each was two stories tall. 28 00:01:08,379 --> 00:01:09,922 The bottom story was curtained off 29 00:01:09,922 --> 00:01:12,925 and was used for costumes, props, and dressing. 30 00:01:12,925 --> 00:01:16,86 The top platform was the stage for the performance. 31 00:01:16,86 --> 00:01:19,95 Spectators assembled in various corners of the town, 32 00:01:19,95 --> 00:01:20,911 and the pageant would move around in the cycle 33 00:01:20,911 --> 00:01:24,144 until the villagers had seen the entire series. 34 00:01:24,144 --> 00:01:25,939 Soon, the plays required more actors 35 00:01:25,939 --> 00:01:27,648 than the clergy could supply. 36 00:01:27,648 --> 00:01:29,191 So, by the 13th century, 37 00:01:29,191 --> 00:01:31,241 different guilds were asked to be responsible 38 00:01:31,241 --> 00:01:33,862 for acting out different parts of the cycle. 39 00:01:33,862 --> 00:01:35,446 The assignments were meant to reflect 40 00:01:35,447 --> 00:01:37,366 the guilds' professions. 41 00:01:37,366 --> 00:01:39,651 For example, the carpenter's guild might put on 42 00:01:39,651 --> 00:01:41,244 the story of Noah's Ark, 43 00:01:41,245 --> 00:01:44,167 and the baker's guild might put on The Last Supper. 44 00:01:44,167 --> 00:01:46,458 Can you imagine what might happen to the story 45 00:01:46,458 --> 00:01:49,964 if the butcher's guild put on The Crucifixion of Christ? 46 00:01:49,964 --> 00:01:51,297 Yes, without the clergy, 47 00:01:51,297 --> 00:01:53,122 the plays soon started changing 48 00:01:53,122 --> 00:01:55,217 from their true Bible stories. 49 00:01:55,217 --> 00:01:58,99 By the end of the 14th century, a new form of drama, 50 00:01:58,99 --> 00:02:00,622 called the morality play, had evolved. 51 00:02:00,622 --> 00:02:01,60 Faith, 52 00:02:01,60 --> 00:02:01,518 truth, 53 00:02:01,518 --> 00:02:02,30 charity, 54 00:02:02,30 --> 00:02:02,980 and good deeds 55 00:02:02,980 --> 00:02:05,194 all became characters on the stage. 56 00:02:05,194 --> 00:02:07,483 And, at the same time, the opposite virtues 57 00:02:07,483 --> 00:02:08,274 of falsehood, 58 00:02:08,274 --> 00:02:09,110 covetousness, 59 00:02:09,110 --> 00:02:10,70 worldly flesh, 60 00:02:10,70 --> 00:02:10,953 and the devil 61 00:02:10,954 --> 00:02:12,951 became the antagonists. 62 00:02:12,951 --> 00:02:15,451 The morality plays were allegorical stories 63 00:02:15,451 --> 00:02:18,743 in which these characters battled for the control of the soul. 64 00:02:18,743 --> 00:02:21,249 Audiences loved the immoral characters, 65 00:02:21,249 --> 00:02:23,97 and spectators were encouraged 66 00:02:23,97 --> 00:02:24,998 to interact with the actors. 67 00:02:24,998 --> 00:02:26,460 Throwing rotten food 68 00:02:26,461 --> 00:02:29,132 and even getting into scuffles with other spectators 69 00:02:29,132 --> 00:02:30,672 became very common. 70 00:02:30,672 --> 00:02:32,376 The character of the devil 71 00:02:32,376 --> 00:02:33,801 often would roam through the crowds 72 00:02:33,801 --> 00:02:35,671 and pull unsuspecting watchers 73 00:02:35,671 --> 00:02:38,942 into a hell that was depicted as a dragon's mouth. 74 00:02:38,943 --> 00:02:41,302 The virtuous Biblical stories had morphed 75 00:02:41,302 --> 00:02:43,969 into crude and sometimes comic stories. 76 00:02:43,969 --> 00:02:47,13 The clergy intended to teach against immorality. 77 00:02:47,14 --> 00:02:49,590 How ironic, then, that the morality plays 78 00:02:49,590 --> 00:02:54,104 actually encouraged vices as more popular than virtues. 79 00:02:54,104 --> 00:02:55,707 By the mid-15th century, 80 00:02:55,707 --> 00:02:58,287 the church started to outlaw these performances. 81 00:02:58,287 --> 00:03:00,284 Town charters required that any theater 82 00:03:00,284 --> 00:03:02,613 must be built outside the city wall. 83 00:03:02,613 --> 00:03:03,874 One of the first theaters 84 00:03:03,874 --> 00:03:06,359 was built like a larger version of a pageant, 85 00:03:06,359 --> 00:03:08,74 with tiers of gallery seating 86 00:03:08,74 --> 00:03:11,128 encircling a grassy area in front of the stage. 87 00:03:11,128 --> 00:03:12,340 Sound familiar? 88 00:03:12,341 --> 00:03:13,568 A young William Shakespeare 89 00:03:13,568 --> 00:03:16,205 developed his craft here at the theater 90 00:03:16,205 --> 00:03:18,565 that was eventually renamed The Globe. 91 00:03:18,565 --> 00:03:21,566 The medieval morality play had led to Renaissance playwrights 92 00:03:21,566 --> 00:03:23,456 who were inspired by the inner struggles 93 00:03:23,456 --> 00:03:25,237 and the conscience of man. 94 00:03:25,237 --> 00:03:27,656 And that, in essence, is how drama emerged 95 00:03:27,657 --> 00:03:30,207 as a literary art form.