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In the 11th and 12th centuries,

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most English commoners were illiterate.

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Since they had no way to learn the Bible,

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the clergy came up with an inventive solution:

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they'd create plays out of certain Bible stories

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so even people who couldn't read could learn them.

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These were called mystery plays

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because they revealed the mystery of God's word.

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At about the same time,

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the clergy also developed plays

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about the saints of the church,

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called miracle plays.

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In the beginning,

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the clergy members acted out Bible stories

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on the steps outside the cathedral.

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The audience reacted so well

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that soon they needed to move out to the street

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around the town square.

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By building moving carts to put on each play

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and by lining up one after the other,

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they could put on cycles of stories,

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which would take the viewer

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from Genesis

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to Revelation.

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These movable carts, called pageants,

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looked like huge boxes on wheels.

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Each was two stories tall.

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The bottom story was curtained off

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and was used for costumes, props, and dressing.

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The top platform was the stage for the performance.

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Spectators assembled in various corners of the town,

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and the pageant would move around in the cycle

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until the villagers had seen the entire series.

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Soon, the plays required more actors

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than the clergy could supply.

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So, by the 13th century,

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different guilds were asked to be responsible

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for acting out different parts of the cycle.

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The assignments were meant to reflect

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the guilds' professions.

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For example, the carpenter's guild might put on

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the story of Noah's Ark,

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and the baker's guild might put on The Last Supper.

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Can you imagine what might happen to the story

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if the butcher's guild put on The Crucifixion of Christ?

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Yes, without the clergy,

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the plays soon started changing

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from their true Bible stories.

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By the end of the 14th century, a new form of drama,

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called the morality play, had evolved.

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Faith,

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truth,

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charity,

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and good deeds

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all became characters on the stage.

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And, at the same time, the opposite virtues

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of falsehood,

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covetousness,

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worldly flesh,

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and the devil

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became the antagonists.

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The morality plays were allegorical stories

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in which these characters battled for the control of the soul.

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Audiences loved the immoral characters,

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and spectators were encouraged

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to interact with the actors.

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Throwing rotten food

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and even getting into scuffles with other spectators

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became very common.

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The character of the devil

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often would roam through the crowds

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and pull unsuspecting watchers

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into a hell that was depicted as a dragon's mouth.

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The virtuous Biblical stories had morphed

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into crude and sometimes comic stories.

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The clergy intended to teach against immorality.

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How ironic, then, that the morality plays

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actually encouraged vices as more popular than virtues.

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By the mid-15th century,

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the church started to outlaw these performances.

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Town charters required that any theater

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must be built outside the city wall.

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One of the first theaters

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was built like a larger version of a pageant,

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with tiers of gallery seating

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encircling a grassy area in front of the stage.

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Sound familiar?

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A young William Shakespeare

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developed his craft here at the theater

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that was eventually renamed The Globe.

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The medieval morality play had led to Renaissance playwrights

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who were inspired by the inner struggles

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and the conscience of man.

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And that, in essence, is how drama emerged

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as a literary art form.