Liturgical Drama

In the middle Ages, type of play acted within or near the church and relating stories from the Bible and of the saints. Although they had their roots in the Christian liturgy, such plays were not performed as essential parts of a standard church service. The language of the liturgical drama was Latin, and the dialogue was frequently chanted to simple monophonic melodies. Music was also used in the form of incidental dance and processional tunes

Before 1200, most were still being done inside the church as part of the liturgy. Most were probably still in Latin, the language of the Church.

Staging:
There were two main areas for the performances to take place:
Mansions -- small scenic structures for indicating location (for instance, a throne might equal the palace of Pilate). In more complex plays, there were many mansions. Platea – general acting area, adjacent to the mansion.
The church structure usually served as the mansions (the choir loft, for instance, could serve as heaven; the altar might be the tomb of Christ).
Machinery was also used: to fly Christ up to heaven, have angels come down, etc.
Costumes were probably ordinary church vestments.
By 1200, some of these plays were being performed outdoors.
By 1350, plays were in the vernacular, rather than Latin.
Laymen were the actors (male members of the community, unpaid—though there were some women on stage in France), no longer clerics and priests.
The stories began to range even further than when they were part of the liturgical services. The church seemed to support these dramas.

Drama in the Early Middle Ages 500-1000

Drama in the early middle ages are small groups of traveling performers-- minstrels, jugglers, acrobats, bards, mimes, puppeteers -- went from town to town entertaining.
They performed in taverns and at festivals for the commoners and at court for the nobility
Festivals usually contained both pagan and Christian elements ( e.g. Halloween and Christmas celebrations )

Earliest extant drama from the middle ages: A four-line dramatization of the resurrection, with direction for its performance.
Comes from an Easter trope (interpolation into existing text, originally lengthened musical passages with words eventually added). – 925 A.D.
By 975, it had become a little drama within the service, probably played by altar boys.
The practice blossomed – many playlets developed dealing with biblical themes—mostly Easter, Christmas, the 12th Night (Feast of the Epiphany).
Usually serious, but at the Feast of Fools and the Feast of the Boy Bishops, much dancing and foolishness and parodies of church practices.
At first, the church had control of the drama outside of the church, but then it gradually became more controlled by secular groups.
The Guilds (tradesmen or Confraternities) took over in some cities, and it was common for certain Guilds to retain control over certain plays / stories, all of which were based in some way on the Bible or religious teachings.
For instance, the Bakers’ Guild would control the play about the Last Supper, and Shipwrights’ Guild would get plays about Noah, etc.
Municipalities took over in some cities. But the church still needed to approve the scripts, even when its role diminished.

Medieval History

After the fall of Rome the 600’s A.D., came a period known to us as the "dark ages." Much political turmoil – no reliable political structure .The Church was the only stable "government" .The church exerted increasing influence. In the 4th Century, the Bishop of Rome, claiming to be the successor to St. Peter, established supremacy in church matters and in secular concerns.
Feudalism – the manor was the chief non-church political entity.
The manor (large estate), headed by a nobleman, had absolute authority over the serfs, (peasants) who worked the land. Lords of manors were vassals, or subjects, of a king. The king’s knights protected the lords and their land. Serfs (servants) owed allegiance to their lord. There are many church edicts against mimi, histriones, ioculatores – terms for secular performers.

Little is known about the theatre between 600-1000 A.D.
There are references to actors (histriones), jugglers, rope dances in nomadic tribes, remnants of Roman mimes, popular pagan festivals and rites. Teutonic minstrels or troubadours ( scops [pronounced "shope] ) became the primary preserver of tribal histories, but the Teutonic tribes converted to Christianity after the 7th or 8th century, and the scops were denounced, branded as bad as mimes. But there was little written drama; none that survives, and almost no other surviving references to it.
Hrosvitha of Gandersheim, a nun, wrote religious plays based on Terence's plays, but they were
probably "closet dramas."
Also Christian ceremonies, where the theatre seems to have been "reborn.". Between 925 and 975, drama becomes re-introduced into the church services. Theatre was "reborn" within the very institution that helped to shut it down. Perhaps the church had little choice – it couldn't’t stop the pagan rites – too popular – so many aspects of pagan rites found their way into Christian ceremonies. (Christmas the birth of Christ, not celebrated in December till the 4th century, to take advantage of the winter festivals; Easter supplanted the spring festivals).
In the 12th century, the Crusades helped bring other cultures to Europe (or, to be more accurate, Europeans took from other cultures and brought them to Europe).
"Liturgical drama" – within the church liturgy, the service
Other religious dramas extended outside the church, in the vernacular