WEBVTT 00:00:17.883 --> 00:00:19.783 In the 11th and 12th centuries, 00:00:19.783 --> 00:00:22.055 most English commoners were illiterate. 00:00:22.055 --> 00:00:24.077 Since they had no way to learn the Bible, 00:00:24.077 --> 00:00:26.547 the clergy came up with an inventive solution: 00:00:26.547 --> 00:00:29.127 they'd create plays out of certain Bible stories 00:00:29.127 --> 00:00:31.879 so even people who couldn't read could learn them. 00:00:31.879 --> 00:00:33.271 These were called mystery plays 00:00:33.271 --> 00:00:35.939 because they revealed the mystery of God's word. 00:00:35.939 --> 00:00:37.186 At about the same time, 00:00:37.186 --> 00:00:38.970 the clergy also developed plays 00:00:38.970 --> 00:00:40.244 about the saints of the church, 00:00:40.244 --> 00:00:41.904 called miracle plays. 00:00:41.904 --> 00:00:42.859 In the beginning, 00:00:42.859 --> 00:00:44.610 the clergy members acted out Bible stories 00:00:44.610 --> 00:00:47.029 on the steps outside the cathedral. 00:00:47.029 --> 00:00:48.906 The audience reacted so well 00:00:48.906 --> 00:00:51.026 that soon they needed to move out to the street 00:00:51.026 --> 00:00:52.573 around the town square. 00:00:52.573 --> 00:00:55.099 By building moving carts to put on each play 00:00:55.099 --> 00:00:56.816 and by lining up one after the other, 00:00:56.816 --> 00:00:58.828 they could put on cycles of stories, 00:00:58.828 --> 00:00:59.997 which would take the viewer 00:00:59.997 --> 00:01:00.695 from Genesis 00:01:00.695 --> 00:01:02.039 to Revelation. 00:01:02.039 --> 00:01:03.915 These movable carts, called pageants, 00:01:03.915 --> 00:01:06.545 looked like huge boxes on wheels. 00:01:06.545 --> 00:01:08.379 Each was two stories tall. 00:01:08.379 --> 00:01:09.922 The bottom story was curtained off 00:01:09.922 --> 00:01:12.925 and was used for costumes, props, and dressing. 00:01:12.925 --> 00:01:16.086 The top platform was the stage for the performance. 00:01:16.086 --> 00:01:19.095 Spectators assembled in various corners of the town, 00:01:19.095 --> 00:01:20.911 and the pageant would move around in the cycle 00:01:20.911 --> 00:01:24.144 until the villagers had seen the entire series. 00:01:24.144 --> 00:01:25.939 Soon, the plays required more actors 00:01:25.939 --> 00:01:27.648 than the clergy could supply. 00:01:27.648 --> 00:01:29.191 So, by the 13th century, 00:01:29.191 --> 00:01:31.241 different guilds were asked to be responsible 00:01:31.241 --> 00:01:33.862 for acting out different parts of the cycle. 00:01:33.862 --> 00:01:35.447 The assignments were meant to reflect 00:01:35.447 --> 00:01:37.366 the guilds' professions. 00:01:37.366 --> 00:01:39.651 For example, the carpenter's guild might put on 00:01:39.651 --> 00:01:41.245 the story of Noah's Ark, 00:01:41.245 --> 00:01:44.167 and the baker's guild might put on The Last Supper. 00:01:44.167 --> 00:01:46.458 Can you imagine what might happen to the story 00:01:46.458 --> 00:01:49.964 if the butcher's guild put on The Crucifixion of Christ? 00:01:49.964 --> 00:01:51.297 Yes, without the clergy, 00:01:51.297 --> 00:01:53.122 the plays soon started changing 00:01:53.122 --> 00:01:55.217 from their true Bible stories. 00:01:55.217 --> 00:01:58.099 By the end of the 14th century, a new form of drama, 00:01:58.099 --> 00:02:00.622 called the morality play, had evolved. 00:02:00.622 --> 00:02:01.060 Faith, 00:02:01.060 --> 00:02:01.518 truth, 00:02:01.518 --> 00:02:02.030 charity, 00:02:02.030 --> 00:02:02.980 and good deeds 00:02:02.980 --> 00:02:05.194 all became characters on the stage. 00:02:05.194 --> 00:02:07.483 And, at the same time, the opposite virtues 00:02:07.483 --> 00:02:08.274 of falsehood, 00:02:08.274 --> 00:02:09.110 covetousness, 00:02:09.110 --> 00:02:10.070 worldly flesh, 00:02:10.070 --> 00:02:10.954 and the devil 00:02:10.954 --> 00:02:12.951 became the antagonists. 00:02:12.951 --> 00:02:15.451 The morality plays were allegorical stories 00:02:15.451 --> 00:02:18.743 in which these characters battled for the control of the soul. 00:02:18.743 --> 00:02:21.249 Audiences loved the immoral characters, 00:02:21.249 --> 00:02:23.097 and spectators were encouraged 00:02:23.097 --> 00:02:24.998 to interact with the actors. 00:02:24.998 --> 00:02:26.461 Throwing rotten food 00:02:26.461 --> 00:02:29.132 and even getting into scuffles with other spectators 00:02:29.132 --> 00:02:30.672 became very common. 00:02:30.672 --> 00:02:32.376 The character of the devil 00:02:32.376 --> 00:02:33.801 often would roam through the crowds 00:02:33.801 --> 00:02:35.671 and pull unsuspecting watchers 00:02:35.671 --> 00:02:38.943 into a hell that was depicted as a dragon's mouth. 00:02:38.943 --> 00:02:41.302 The virtuous Biblical stories had morphed 00:02:41.302 --> 00:02:43.969 into crude and sometimes comic stories. 00:02:43.969 --> 00:02:47.014 The clergy intended to teach against immorality. 00:02:47.014 --> 00:02:49.590 How ironic, then, that the morality plays 00:02:49.590 --> 00:02:54.104 actually encouraged vices as more popular than virtues. 00:02:54.104 --> 00:02:55.707 By the mid-15th century, 00:02:55.707 --> 00:02:58.287 the church started to outlaw these performances. 00:02:58.287 --> 00:03:00.284 Town charters required that any theater 00:03:00.284 --> 00:03:02.613 must be built outside the city wall. 00:03:02.613 --> 00:03:03.874 One of the first theaters 00:03:03.874 --> 00:03:06.359 was built like a larger version of a pageant, 00:03:06.359 --> 00:03:08.074 with tiers of gallery seating 00:03:08.074 --> 00:03:11.128 encircling a grassy area in front of the stage. 00:03:11.128 --> 00:03:12.341 Sound familiar? 00:03:12.341 --> 00:03:13.568 A young William Shakespeare 00:03:13.568 --> 00:03:16.205 developed his craft here at the theater 00:03:16.205 --> 00:03:18.565 that was eventually renamed The Globe. 00:03:18.565 --> 00:03:21.566 The medieval morality play had led to Renaissance playwrights 00:03:21.566 --> 00:03:23.456 who were inspired by the inner struggles 00:03:23.456 --> 00:03:25.237 and the conscience of man. 00:03:25.237 --> 00:03:27.657 And that, in essence, is how drama emerged 00:03:27.657 --> 00:03:30.207 as a literary art form.