View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/the-emergence-of-drama-as-a-literary-art-mindy-ploeckelmann

When presented with the problem of hoards of illiterate commoners, English clergymen in the 11th century created plays to spread word about the Bible. Eventually, the plays moved out of the church and into the streets. Mindy Ploeckelmann tracks the development of drama from mystery plays to morality plays and, eventually, to Shakespeare.

Lesson by Mindy Ploeckelmann, animation by Johnny Chew.