Darryll Grantley has created a comprehensive guide to the interlude: the extant non-cycle drama in English from the late fourteenth century up to the period in which the London commercial theatre began. As precursors of seventeenth-century drama, not only do these interludes shed important light on the technical and literary development of Shakespearean theatre, but many are also works of considerable theatrical or cultural interest in themselves. This accessible reference guide provides an entry for each of the extant interludes and fragments (c.100) typically containing an account of early editions or manuscripts; authorship and sources; modern editions; plot summary and dramatis personae; list of social issues present in the plays; verbal and dramaturgical features; songs and music; allusions and place names; stage directions and comments on staging; and modern productions, among other valuable and informative details. There are full bibliographies, indexes of characters and songs, and appendices.

First published in 1975, The English Morality Play is the extended history of the English morality play, its persistence and flourishing as a dramatic tradition. The book sheds light on the intellectual and social origins of the morality play, its relationship to the medieval Corpus Christi cycle plays, its subject, purpose, conditions of original staging, and the abstract characters of its dramatis personae. The changing tradition is revealed within Renaissance drama, in the works of Skelton and Medwall, and the Reformation plays of Lindsay, Bale and Udall, as the morality play altered under the pressure of political events, escaped from the general suppression of religious drama, and in complex ways came to influence the dramatic conceptions of Marlowe, Shakespeare and Ben Jonson. Contemporary parallels to the English morality tradition in European drama are investigated, as is the rediscovery of the texts of the plays by eighteenth- and nineteenth-century critics. In the final chapter, Dr. Potter examines the revival of the morality tradition on the twentieth-century stage and its influence on such dramatists as Bernard Shaw, T. S. Eliot, W. B. Yeats and Bertolt Brecht. This book will be of interest to students of literature and drama.

The mystery and morality play were two of the three principal kinds of vernacular drama in Europe during the Middle Ages. Mystery plays, usually representing biblical subjects, developed from dramas presented in Latin by churchmen on sacred premises, depicting subjects like the Creation, Adam and Eve and the Last Judgment. They were often performed together in cycles which could last for days at special festivals and occasions. The morality play is an allegorical drama, in which the characters personify moral qualities and undergo didactic lessons. The action centres on a hero, such as Mankind, whose inherent weaknesses are assaulted by personified diabolic forces like the Seven Deadly Sins, but who may choose redemption and enlist the aid of such figures as Mercy, Justice, Temperance and Truth. This eBook presents a comprehensive collection of mystery and morality plays, with numerous illustrations, rare medieval texts, informative introductions and the usual Delphi bonus material. (Version 1) Please note: due to the book‐burning zeal of the English Reformation, no English text of a ‘miracle play’ survives and so an example of this drama cannot appear in this edition. * Beautifully illustrated with images relating to mystery and morality plays * Concise introductions to the major cycles and plays * All of the plays of the four principal mystery play cycles (York, Wakefield, N-Town and Chester) * The plays appear in the form of their original Middle English texts * Many rare dramas appearing for the first time in digital publishing * All extant English morality plays from the Middle Ages * Excellent formatting of the texts * Special Middle English glossary of words to aid your reading of the plays * Special contextual section, with four essays charting the development of drama in the Middle Ages * Ordering of texts into chronological order and genres Please visit www.delphiclassics.com to browse through our range of exciting titles CONTENTS: The Mystery Plays York Mystery Plays (c. mid-14th century) Wakefield Mystery Plays (mid-15th century) N-Town Plays (late 15th century) Chester Mystery Plays (15th century) The Morality Plays The Pride of Life (late 14th century) The Castle of Perseverance (c. 1425) Wisdom (c. 1460) Mankind (c. 1470) Nature (c. 1495) by Henry Medwall Everyman (1510) Contextual Works Miracle Plays and Mysteries (1913) by Georges Michel Bertrin English Miracle Plays (1914) by Arnold Wynne Moralities and Interludes (1914) by Arnold Wynne Rise of the Drama (1921) by Andrew Lang Glossary of Middle English Words Please visit www.delphiclassics.com to browse through our range of exciting titles or to purchase this eBook as a Parts Edition of individual eBooks