The Chester Mystery Plays is a cycle of mystery play

Mystery play

Mystery plays and miracle plays are among the earliest formally developed plays in medieval Europe. Medieval mystery plays focused on the representation of Bible stories in churches as tableaux with accompanying antiphonal song...

s dating back to at least the early part of the 15th century.

A record of 1422 shows that the plays took place at the feast of Corpus Christi

Corpus Christi (feast)

Corpus Christi is a Latin Rite solemnity, now designated the solemnity of The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ . It is also celebrated in some Anglican, Lutheran and Old Catholic Churches. Like Trinity Sunday and the Solemnity of Christ the King, it does not commemorate a particular event in...

 and this appears to have continued until 1521. Plays on Corpus Christi Day in 1475 included 'The trial and flagellation of Christ' and 'The Crucifixion'. The plays were then expanded into a three day cycle on Whit Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. In the years between the plays there was the Chester Midsummer Watch Parade

Chester Midsummer Watch Parade

-History:A monk, Lucian, wrote of a Chester procession of clerics in the year 1195 and city annals mention a parade in 1397/8, but it was not until the mayoralty of Richard Goodman who served from November 1498 until November 1499 that the "Wach on Midsummer Eve was first sett out and begonne"...

 instead.

The plays are based on biblical texts, from creation to the Last Judgement

Last Judgment

The Last Judgment, Final Judgment, Day of Judgment, Judgment Day, or The Day of the Lord in Christian theology, is the final and eternal judgment by God of every nation. The concept is found in all the Canonical gospels, particularly the Gospel of Matthew. It will purportedly take place after the...

. They were enacted by common guild

Guild

A guild is an association of craftsmen in a particular trade. The earliest types of guild were formed as confraternities of workers. They were organized in a manner something between a trade union, a cartel, and a secret society...

smen and craftsmen

Artisan

An artisan is a skilled manual worker who makes items that may be functional or strictly decorative, including furniture, clothing, jewellery, household items, and tools...

 on mounted stages that were moved around the city streets, with each company or guild performing one play.

Prior to the event the Crier read out these banns: "The Aldermen and stewards of evrie societie and Companie draw youselves to your said severall companies according to Ancient Customme and soe to appear with your said severall Companies everie man as you are Called upon paine that shall fall thereon". Such early banns exhorted each company to perform well.

Under Queen Elizabeth I the plays were seen as 'Popery' and banned by the English Church

Church of England

The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...

. Despite this a play cycle was performed in 1568 and the cathedral paid for the stage and beer as in 1562. They were performed again, over four days, in 1575. This resulted in the mayor, when he retired from his office, being taken to the Star Chamber

Star Chamber

The Star Chamber was an English court of law that sat at the royal Palace of Westminster until 1641. It was made up of Privy Counsellors, as well as common-law judges and supplemented the activities of the common-law and equity courts in both civil and criminal matters...

 in London to answer allegations against him, but with the support of the council (or assembly) he was freed.

The plays have been revived in modern times, and are presented in the city of Chester

Chester

Chester is a city in Cheshire, England. Lying on the River Dee, close to the border with Wales, it is home to 77,040 inhabitants, and is the largest and most populous settlement of the wider unitary authority area of Cheshire West and Chester, which had a population of 328,100 according to the...

, England, every five years. The 2008 run of plays officially began on 28 June, and run nightly until 19 July.

The most well-known of the Chester plays relates the story of Noah

Noah

Noah was, according to the Hebrew Bible, the tenth and last of the antediluvian Patriarchs. The biblical story of Noah is contained in chapters 6–9 of the book of Genesis, where he saves his family and representatives of all animals from the flood by constructing an ark...

 and the Great Flood, traditionally acted by the Drawers of Dee (watercarriers). In it, Noah and his sons load up the provisions and the animals while his wife gossips with the neighbours. Noah urges her to hurry aboard, "The flood comes in fleeting fast; On every side it speadeth full fare; For fear of drowning I am agast; Good gossip, let us draw near". But Noah's wife keeps on drinking and gossipping until, eventually, the sons carry her onto the ark by force. At the end of the play, God provides a rainbow as a token that mankind has had enough punishment for its sinful deeds.

In the 20th century, the Noah's Flood play was set opera

Opera

Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...

tically by both Benjamin Britten

Benjamin Britten

Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten, OM CH was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He showed talent from an early age, and first came to public attention with the a cappella choral work A Boy Was Born in 1934. With the premiere of his opera Peter Grimes in 1945, he leapt to...

 (Noye's Fludde

Noye's Fludde

Noye's Fludde is an early 15th century mystery play from the Chester Mystery Cycle. It was set to music by Benjamin Britten in 1957 based on an edition by Alfred W. Pollard...

) and Igor Stravinsky

Igor Stravinsky

Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky ; 6 April 1971) was a Russian, later naturalized French, and then naturalized American composer, pianist, and conductor....

 (The Flood

The Flood (Stravinsky)

The Flood: A musical play is a short biblical drama by Igor Stravinsky on the allegory of Noah, originally written as an opera for television. CBS Television executive Alan Wagner commissioned the work...

).

The Mysteries

The Mysteries (play)

The Mysteries is a version of the medieval English mystery plays presented at London's National Theatre in 1977. The cycle of three plays tells the story of the Bible from the creation to the last judgement....

is an adaption by the poet Tony Harrison

Tony Harrison

Tony Harrison is an English poet and playwright. He is noted for controversial works such as the poem V and Fram, as well as his versions of ancient Greek tragedies, including the Oresteia and Hecuba...

, principally based upon the Wakefield Cycle, but incorporating scenes from the York

York Mystery Plays

The York Mystery Plays, more properly called the York Corpus Christi Plays, are a Middle English cycle of forty-eight mystery plays, or pageants, which cover sacred history from the creation to the Last Judgement. These were traditionally presented on the feast day of Corpus Christi...

, Chester and N-Town

N-Town Plays

The N-Town Plays are a cycle of 42 medieval Mystery plays from between 1450 and 1500.-The manuscript:...

 canons, first performed in 1977 at the National Theatre

Royal National Theatre

The Royal National Theatre in London is one of the United Kingdom's two most prominent publicly funded theatre companies, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company...

, and again revived in 2000 as a celebration of the millennium.

External links

• The Official Chester Mystery Plays Website - the website of the Chester Mystery Cycle with news of the performance in June 2008.
• Chester Mystery Plays in London - information about how to book tickets for the 2008 November performance of scenes from the Chester Mystery Plays performed by the Players of St Peter in London
• Chester Mystery Plays 2003 performance - free downloadable media clips from the Chester Mystery Cycle performance of 2003, featuring full mp3 audio track 'Christ Theme' and video excerpt from the performance.
• The original text