Liturgical drama

Liturgical drama refers to medieval forms of dramatic performance that use stories from the Bible or Christian hagiography.

The term was widely disseminated by well-known theater historians like Heinrich Alt (Theater und Kirche, 1846),^[1] E.K. Chambers (The Mediaeval Stage, 1903) and Karl Young. Young's two-volume monumental work^[2] about the medieval church was especially influential. It was published in 1933 and is still read today, even though his theories have been rejected for more than 40 years. Many college textbooks, among them the popular books by Oscar Brockett, propagated the theory of "liturgical drama" even into the 21st century.^[3]

^ Alt claims that the altar was the originary site of Christian performance, which then gradually moved westward in a process of evolution that led through the nave, later reaching the portal. Heinrich Alt, Theater und Kirche: In ihrem gegenseitigen Verhältniß (Berlin 1846), p. 336ff.
^ Young, Karl (1933). The Drama of the Medieval Church. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
^ Brockett, Oscar (2003). History of the theatre (9th ed.). Boston, Mass.: Allyn & Bacon.

[1] Alt claims that the altar was the originary site of Christian performance, which then gradually moved westward in a process of evolution that led through the nave, later reaching the portal. Heinrich Alt, Theater und Kirche: In ihrem gegenseitigen Verhältniß (Berlin 1846), p. 336ff.

[2] Young, Karl (1933). The Drama of the Medieval Church. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

[3] Brockett, Oscar (2003). History of the theatre (9th ed.). Boston, Mass.: Allyn & Bacon.

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