Chester Mystery Plays

The Chester Mystery Plays have become a rare and treasured part of Britain's cultural heritage, now only performed every five years (June/July 2018, 2023, etc.), with a cast of hundreds including choirs and the gawping crowd!

Overview
Performed on wagons throughout the city, the plays could be regarded as the first organised street theatre. Taken over by city guildsmen after the monks gave up the increasingly elaborate procedure of dramatising church services for the many who couldn't follow the Latin texts, these wagon performances of amateur actors became injected with both wit and humour. "Mystery" in this context refers "specialized skill" (ministerium, meaning craft). Very few other places found the economic or administrative means to stage such a sequence of plays, tracing God's intervention into human history, but the Chester cycle managed to thrive. It was (in medieval times) a popular annual event and the plays became a source of pride in the city. Even in the 1500s, when the growth of Puritanism led to such activities being banned altogether, Chester determined to continue and managed to stage its plays longer than anywhere else in England - much to the fury of the ruling archbishop. A near-complete text of 24 plays and some fascinating documentation of actual medieval performances in Chester survives today.

Chamber's "Book of Days" (1863) states of them (under May 15):


 * The mystery or miracle plays of which we read so much in old chronicles possess an interest in the present day not only as affording details of and amusements of the people in the middle ages of which we have no very clear record but in them and the illuminated MSS but also in helping us to trace the progress of the drama from a very early period to the time when it reached its meridian glory in our immortal Shakspeare. It is said that the first of these plays one on the passion of our Lord was written by Gregory of Nazianzen and a German nun of the name of Roswitha who lived in the tenth century and wrote six Latin dramas on the stories of saints and martyrs. When they became more common about the eleventh or twelfth century we find that the monks were generally not only the authors but the actors. In the dark ages when the Bible was an interdicted book these amusements were devised to instruct the people in the Old and New Testament narratives and the lives of the saints the former bearing the title of mysteries the latter of miracle plays. Their value was a much disputed point among churchmen some of the older councils forbade them as a profane treatment of sacred subjects. Wicklisse and his followers were loud in condemnation yet Luther gave them his sanction saying Such spectacles often do more good and produce more impression than sermons. In Sweden and Denmark the Lutheran ecclesiastics followed the example of their forefathers and wrote and encouraged them to the end of the seventeenth century it was about the middle of that century when they ceased in England. Relics of them may still be traced in the Cornish acting of St George and the Dragon and "Beelzebub".

History
The plays are traditionally dated about 1325, but a date of about 1375 has also been suggested. The first evidence for religious plays in Chester is of a performance on Corpus Christi day 1422, which usually falls in June, but can be anywhere from 23rd May to 24th June, depending on the date of easter. Representatives of the guilds walked in procession behind a consecrated "host" holding torches in a ritual known as a light. Other famous Mystery Play “Cycles” in England were written in Coventry, York and Wakefield.

List of plays and guild
The Fall of Lucifer (Barkers and Tanners); The Creation of the World (Drapers and Hosiers); Noah and his Ship (Waterleaders and Drawers in the Dee); Abraham and Isaac (Barber Surgeons and Waxchandlers); Balak and Balam (Cappers, Wiredrawers and Pinners); The Nativity (Wheelrights, Slaters, Tylers, Daubers and Thatchers); The Shepherds (Painters, Glaziers and Embroiderers); King Herod / Adoration of the Magi (Vintners); The Three Kings (Mercers and Spicers); Slaughter of the Innocents (Goldsmiths and Masons); Purification of Our Lady (Smiths, Forbers and Pewterers); The Temptation & Woman taken into Adultery (Butchers); Raising of Lazarus (Glovers and Parchment-makers); The Coming of Christ to Jerusalem (Corvisars); The Last Supper (Grocers, Bakers and Millers); The Scourging of Christ (Bowyers, Fletchers, Stringers, Coopers and Turners); The coming of the Antichrist (Dyers); The Crucifixion (Ironmongers and Ropers); Harrowing of Hell (Cooks, Tapsters, Ostlers and Innkeepers); The Resurrection (Skinners, Plastercard-makers, Hatters, Painters and Girdlers); Castle of Emmaus & the Apostles (Saddlers); The Ascension (Tailors); Whitsunday Making of the Creed (Fishmongers); Prophets before the Day of Doom (Shermen); Antichrist (Hewsters and Bellfounders); The Last Judgement (Weavers and Walkers). In addition there was "The assimption of the Virgin" which was performed by the "worshipful wives of this town".

Sources and Links

 * Chester Mystery Plays on Wiki;
 * Chester Mystery Plays official website;
 * Full Text of the plays