Thursday, September 22, 2011

I believe I am alone in saying this

                               Performance of "The Castle of Perseverance," a morality play


Reviving the custom of morality plays would be a good idea.  In the medieval Church, pageants and plays surrounded every feast.  Some of the plays survive and are quite entertaining.  For instance, "The Harrowing of Hell,"  performed in olden days by the cooks and innkeepers of Chester, includes an episode with an offending alewife sent to Hell for adding water to her beer and not including enough malt.  The plays include graceful language and sound instruction, too.  "The Creation, and the Fall of Lucifer, " performed by the tanners of Chester, begins in Heaven, with God announcing "I am gracious and great, God without beginning; I am maker unmade, all might is in me; I am life and way unto wealth-winning; I am foremost and first, as I bid shall it be."

Anyway, it would beat most of the junk on TV.

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