Liturgy and Theater

Abstract

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.

The liturgical drama gradually increased in both length and sophistication and flourished particularly during the 12^th and 13^th centuries. The most popular themes were derived from colourful biblical tales (Daniel in the lion’s den, the foolish virgins, the story of the Passion and death of Jesus, etc.) as well as from the stories of the saints (as the Virgin Mary and St. Nicholas). Eventually, the connection between the liturgical drama and the church was severed completely, as the plays came under secular sponsorship and adopted the vernacular. 

To my mind, much of this can be attributed to the fact that the traditional liturgical forms are the cumulative experience of centuries of liturgical practice -- experience which was able to hone this sense of sacred drama over the centuries and which informed the arts and ceremonies attached to the liturgical rites, each powerfully contributing to the whole. Often these came either without sufficient consideration of these matters, or in some cases with ideological objections to the liturgical tradition itself based upon a populist vision of the liturgy. At the end of the day, it seems to me that when we do an apples to apples comparison of these two liturgical forms, one can see that the problem is not solely aesthetic; it is also structural.