Medieval English Drama provides a fresh introduction to the dramatic and festive practices of England in the late Middle Ages. The book places particular emphasis on the importance of the performance contexts of these events, bringing to life a period before permanent theatre buildings when performances took place in a wide variety of locations and had to fight to attract and maintain the attention of an audience. Showing the interplay between dramatic and everyday life, the book covers performances in convents, churches, parishes, street processions and parades, and in particular distinguishes between modes of outdoor and indoor performance. Katie Normington aids the reader to a fuller understanding of these early English dramatic practices by explaining the significance of the place of performance, the particularities of spectatorship for each event and how the conventions of the form of drama were manipulated to address its reception. Audiences considered range from cloistered members, congregations and parish members to urban citizens, nobles and royalty. Undergraduate students of literature of this period will find this an approachable and illuminating guide.

Medieval English Drama provides a fresh introduction to thedramatic and festive practices of England in the late Middle Ages.The book places particular emphasis on the importance of theperformance contexts of these events, bringing to life a periodbefore permanent theatre buildings when performances took place ina wide variety of locations and had to fight to attract andmaintain the attention of an audience. Showing the interplaybetween dramatic and everyday life, the book covers performances inconvents, churches, parishes, street processions and parades, andin particular distinguishes between modes of outdoor and indoorperformance.Katie Normington aids the reader to a fuller understanding ofthese early English dramatic practices by explaining thesignificance of the place of performance, the particularities ofspectatorship for each event and how the conventions of the form ofdrama were manipulated to address its reception. Audiencesconsidered range from cloistered members, congregations and parishmembers to urban citizens, nobles and royalty.Undergraduate students of literature of this period will findthis an approachable and illuminating guide.

Acknowledgements.Preface.List of Abbreviations.Introduction.1. Drama of Enclosure: Convent Drama.2. Drama of Inclusion: Church and Parish.3. Drama and the City: City Parades.4. Drama in the City: Processional Drama and Hybridity.5. Fixed Place Drama: Place-and-Scaffold.6. Indoor Drama: Private Entertainment.Conclusion.Notes.Bibliography.Index