Finding the Essence of Each Scene

Condensing scenes required a similar process. Initially the performance was only to include Passion I, which concludes with Jesus' Arrest. Passion Play II was added in order to provide the scenes that complete the Passion story and Resurrection. The Crucifixion and Resurrection had to be included. Beyond that, four trial scenes (Before Caiphas, Before Pilate I and II, and Before Herod) were incorporated as background important and inter-related enough to include. Peter's denial was eliminated for the sake of time.

The Dream of Pilate's wife sequence was eliminated early, considering time and shortening the cast of characters. The change this made in Pilate's character became clear later. If Pilate's effort on Jesus' behalf is not motivated by the warning from Satan that he will suffer for killing the Christ, then he must be acting out of conscience. The reasons for this change are due more to the characterization of Demon than they are to Pilate, however. In the play, the reason that Demon comes to Pilate's wife is that he has decided that killing Jesus is going too far and that if Jesus ends up in Hell, He will destroy it. Demon hopes to use Pilate's wife to reverse Pilate's decision to support the Jews' complaints.

[page 120] A melodramatic sensibility is added when Pilate instead struggles with his own conscience over Jesus' fate. Jesus' assurance to Pilate suggests that he will not suffer so harsh a fate as Demon has predicted: "The one who betrayed me to you is more at fault than you" (Scene XII, 111). In this arrangement, when Pilate delivers the sentence at the end of the scene he is reluctant but forced by the Jews to do so.

Demon's speech of victory before the cross comes next, using the text of his message from the introduction to the Dream of Pilate's Wife. The speech functions as a reminder of Demon's goals and presence.

The Harrowing of Hell scenes were eliminated because Jesus' victory over Demon is clear as soon as He rises from the dead. It is not necessary to see Jesus physically defeat him at this point when the focus is on the audience's response to Jesus' success.

Initially the script cut from the Crucifixion straight to the Resurrection without any Burial. Instead of adding the scene with the Centurion, Joseph and Nicodemus, the production presents the Burial in dumb show using Pilate, the soldiers and the other leaders. It connects directly to the Setting of the Watch.

From this point on no scene was completely eliminated, though each was condensed drastically. At first the play ended with Mary Magdalene's message to the disciples that Jesus was alive, though an epilogue from John the Baptist about the importance of repentance was intended to frame the story, paralleling the Prologues of John and Demon which open Passion Play I. An Ascension scene was added as a conclusion instead. This brief "Ascension" piece provided a resolution for the production text, concluding with a reprise of the "Hosanna" which had welcomed Jesus in the Entry into Jerusalem.

B. Themes

The primary conflict in the Passion Plays of the N-town cycle stands between Law, represented by the Jews, and Grace, represented by God through Jesus. The final performance script for this contemporary production was therefore titled Law and Grace. There are two [page 121] primary views of law contained in this text. The conservative view of the Pharisees venerates Law above all else: "It is far better for one person to die to preserve our law, than to see the law destroyed, along with our society" (Caiphas, Scene V, 100). Opposing this position is the image of the merciful Christ as the fulfillment of the Law. Christ's Grace, offered as an alternative and successor to the Law, is not considered by the Jewish religious leaders. What Jesus calls redemption or forgiveness, "perfect peace between God and Man" (Scene III, 98), is seen by the Pharisees as a threat to their power and control.

C. Staging

Medieval Staging Practices

There is a form to the staging of the medieval period and particularly to the N-town Passion Plays. This method may be described as loca-platea, or place-and-scaffold, staging. It features two primary acting areas: the platea (also called the "place"), which refers to the audience-level performance area;(22) and the loca, or locations, defined in and around the platea and raised up on constructed platforms called scaffolds. A scaffold may also be called "scaffold, stage, house and tent".(23) The scaffolds can indicate general or specific loca. In this kind of specified staging arrangement, there was always a scaffold for Heaven and some kind of "Hell," though Anne Cooper Gay finds that in treating the N-town Passion Play I as a discrete drama, no Hell is required. She describes a total of six "stations" (i.e., loca) for the performance of this play, at least three of them on elevated stages.(24) Other scaffolds might indicate different locations at different times. For example, in the N-town Passion, the same "council-house" may have served both as the "little oratory" where the Jews plot Jesus' destruction and "the Temple" where Maria Virgo goes to await the Resurrection at the end of Passion Play I.(25)

[page 122] In the production described within this article, almost every location was used to indicate more than one setting. For example, the main stage level (B), which served as the Upper Room for the Last Supper scenes in Passion Play I became the Mount of Olives and the hill of the Crucifixion later in the story (see below: "Playing Space;" also drawing).

Plays, especially medieval ones, "were intended to be seen and heard, not read…they were designed for a general audience which was more accustomed to hearing its literature than to reading it silently".(26) Therefore, it is important to play these dramas in front of an audience to determine and illustrate their theatrical viability. As Meg Twycross has written, "if we take them seriously as theatre, they will work".(27) Richard Beadle says: "modern revivals…propose a variety of delights, insights, questions and problems which previous studies…have seldom sought to address".(28)

Stage Directions

Most of the stage directions in N-town's Passion I and II are in English, though a few are in Latin. Elsewhere in the N-town manuscript, the overwhelming majority of the stage directions are given in Latin. For example, in the Noah play, after Noah agrees to build the ark, the stage direction follows: "Hic transit Noe cum familia sua pro novi [Here Noah crosses with his family to get the ship]".(29) Many directions simply introduce scenes or describe entrances and exits, such as "Hic incipit de suscitatione Lazari [Here begins the raising of Lazarus]"(30) and "Introitus 'Moyses' [Enter 'Moses']".(31) These are sparse and simple directions that give little indication of the specific arrangements of the playing area.

[page 123] The stage directions in English of the Passion Plays are much different. They are longer, more specific and more descriptive than the other comments. Alan Fletcher calls them "after Chester . . . the next richest in English mystery drama".(32) For example, R. T. Davies renders the stage direction preceding Annas' first line in Passion Play I as follows:

Here shall Annas show himself in his stage, besein after a bishop of the old law, in a scarlet gown and over that a blue tabard, furred with white, and a mitre on his head after the old law, two doctors standing by him in furred hoods, and one before them with his staff of estate, and each of them on their heads a furred cap with a great knop in the crown, and one standing before as a Saracen, the which shall be his messenger.(33)

This stage direction provides a general description of where Annas will appear, tells us who is with him, and describes his clothing very specifically. The issue of why they would be dressed as bishops rather than Jews will be addressed below.

The most important feature of the stage directions in English in the N-town Passion plays is the locations they describe. As seen above, Annas appears "in his stage," presumably some sort of scaffold or platform. Anne Cooper Gay argues: "the use of the word 'stage' must, in connection with this cycle [N-town] be limited to refer to a scaffold".(34) When the priests, Annas and Caiphas, meet with the judges Rewfin and Lyon, the stage direction says: "Here the bishops with their clerks and the Pharisees meet at the midplace and there shall be a little oratory with stools and cushions cleanly besein like as it were a council-house".(35) This describes not only the position ("the midplace") and the location ("a little oratory"), but also suggests the furnishings ("with stools and cushions…like as it were a council house").

[page 124] These stage directions can also suggest something about the staging and the "cues" of the production. Having established the "council-house" and Simon's house, the play alternates between these two loca, suggesting that action is continuous in both places. It was not necessary in early productions to ignore the actors in the inactive location consciously, because these settings were somehow equipped with curtains to open or close. After Jesus and his disciples have entered Simon's house for the Passover supper, the stage direction says, "in the meantime the council-house before-said shall suddenly unclose showing the bishops, priests and judges sitting in their estate like as it were a convocation".(36) Similar directions accompany the subsequent shifts from one place to the other.

Playing Space

The production space was a circular church chapel with a flat, hard floor and ceiling and a raised stage at one side, with steps leading up to it (see drawing). The Last Supper was performed on this stage (B), as were the Setting and Story of the Watch, and the Resurrection. The tomb was placed at the upstage left corner of this stage (F). An extension of this stage at the center (C), jutted approximately eight feet out into the audience area (A--described here as the "place" or platea). On this extended stage the Agony, the "scaffold" of Pilate, the Crucifixion and Ascension were staged. The downstage left corner of the existing stage (E) served to suggest Herod's "scaffold" for the trial there, while the "council-house" of the Jews was played on a standard 4 x 8 platform in "the place" at stage right (D). Several characters, as described above, made entrances from the rear of the chapel, and it was here (G) that the disciples were gathered when they received the news that Jesus had risen. Most of the remaining action happened in the "place," also called the platea, at floor-level (A). Even the scenes that were located primarily in another area made use of the platea as an extension of their location. Meg Twycross describes the "place" as the "No Man's Land into which the characters descend to converse, fight or otherwise interact".(37) For example, at the opening of Scene II, Caiphas introduces himself from the "scaffold" (D), but then steps from it to greet Rewfin near the center of "the place" (A).

[page 125] My production design for staging this script was based on the concept of alternating locations. The location where the Pharisees did their plotting was always in sight of the audience. Similarly, the Last Supper tableau was visible even when the Jews were arguing among themselves over what to do with Jesus. Limited access to the performance space prior to the performance precluded the construction of complicated built scenery, (which is what scaffolds enclosed by curtains would be). Standard 4' x 8' platforms were chosen as a simplified alternative, using light to isolate the areas.

D. Directing Techniques

Focus

The control of focus in this type of theatre, where the action takes place in front of, among, beside and behind the audience, must be achieved primarily by action or sound. For example, in the transition mentioned above between the first Last Supper scene and the second Conspiracy scene, Jesus finishes with the words to Simon, "This reward I shall grant thee present" at which the curtain around the council-house set would open, making a noise and drawing attention as Annas immediately began speaking with "Behold! It is nought, all that we do!".(38)

My production made use of this technique to a small degree. Because of the close proximity of the different areas to one another, the speaker drew most of the attention, especially if she or he spoke from behind or otherwise out of the sight of the audience. On those occasions when the focus changed from the front of the room to another location, it was the attention of the speaker to the new character or the change of speaker to the entering actor that drew the attention of the audience, even though they were forced to sit facing the front. The transition of the Prologues will serve as an example. When Demon finished speaking at the front and noticed John the Baptist walking in at the back, she looked at him in disgust, and then walked off. Just as she turned to go, John spoke, and the audience shifted their attention to him.

[page 126] Clothing and Costume

There are three possible approaches a modern producer may take to costuming the Jewish conspirators. First, they may be clothed as Catholic bishops, as they were for medieval performances. That is how they were dressed for the production of this experimental script. Second, Annas and Caiphas might appear as Jewish priests of the first century according to the latest historical research in order to place them accurately in the time of Jesus. Third, it is possible to dress them in something entirely different. This could mean putting them in generic black robes like "Demon" wore. One might also dress them as their modern equivalents in terms of power and authority, either within the church, the government, or the judicial system. Also within this range of possibilities is the chance to portray them as anything or anyone else at all, as Shakespeare and other playwrights are often updated or uprooted to such locations as Nazi Germany or the American West.

The intent of updating costumes is placing the drama in a context that is familiar to the contemporary audience, if there are contemporary parallels to the characters and the costume clearly indicates what the parallel is. Alan Fletcher takes the concept a step farther and says that the familiarity is really just a "hook" to draw the audience into the world of the play and to accept it on its own terms. By incorporating contemporary references, the play "defamiliarises the here and now," making it an apt subject of and location for criticism and change. The audience is aware of this illusion and follows the arguments of the drama more clearly because of this awareness. A variety of arguments is employed in order to explain the single Divine purpose in ways which the entire audience may understand.

The potential problem with keeping the Jews and the soldiers in the medieval age is the possibility of creating a work that will be perceived and valued only as a "museum piece" or a social document. Such a danger can be averted by the use of modern language and the undated religious robes worn by Caiphas, Herod, and Pilate.

Lucifer presents a unique problem. The prologue itself includes a long description of Lucifer's clothing, which is gaudy and excessive. He introduces this with: "Behold the [page 127] diversity of my disguised variance".(39) This suggests that the actor playing the role was dressed much as the gentlemen of the day, rather than in a red suit with horns and a tail. I translated this image to modern times by dressing the woman I had cast as 'Demon' in a modern black pants suit in which she appeared to be herself. Her entrance in this outfit was an attempt to have her seem to be a modern person beginning or narrating the play until she introduced herself as Lucifer. This kind of shock for the audience was intended to jolt the audience from modern times to the world of the play.

It is not clear whether the Lucifer prologue of Passion Play I had the same effect in its original. Lucifer may have been dressed in layers, and taken on a variety of disguises. Even if he were dressed more like the audience than the characters, his line "that out of hell came"(40) combined with the presence of the hell-mouth or hell scaffold on the setting, suggests that he made his entrance from Hell, immediately indicating his identity to the audience. Though the costume choice was appropriate and effective, it is not clear whether or not it was entirely true to the original production style.

Staging Miracles

The central actions of any Passion play are Christ's Crucifixion and Resurrection. The method of staging these miracles must be a vital consideration for any producer. Both actions are described in the stage directions, but they are not specific and do not make clear just how realistic the indications of these actions were. The Crucifixion calls for the soldiers to "pull Jesu out of his clothes, and lay them together. And there they shall pull him down, and lay him along on the cross, and after that nail him thereon".(41) The dialogue indicates the soldiers have to stretch Jesus to fit the nail holes. Several possible stagings come to mind: the cross may have had nails already pounded into it, so the actor portraying Jesus could hold onto them as the soldiers pounded on them, making it look as if they were being pounded through him; the soldiers might have carried the nails and then placed them in pre-drilled holes in the cross; It seems likely that the actor playing Jesus in reality would have been roped to the cross beam (as [page 128] Richard Beadle suggests in his edition of the York plays(42)), with a platform for his feet. None of these speculations may be confirmed. In such ambiguous cases, pantomimic action can be powerfully suggestive in ancient and modern drama for the performance of familiar mythic actions.

In the interest of simplification and symbolic distance, I chose to pantomime the action of the Crucifixion, creating an imaginary hammer, nails, and cross. The cross was represented by a six-foot long wooden dowel, painted black, that Jesus held across his shoulders and on which He supported his arms. The effect presented Jesus standing in a cross-like position without creating a realistic first-century Judean or fifteenth-century English cross.

For the Resurrection, we took an even more stylized approach. The tomb was placed offstage. The Resurrection was cued by a recorded brass fanfare and a bright white light on "the tomb." Jesus walked on triumphantly with his hands held high. He strode to center stage and began his speech to the audience from there.

The final miracle in the production version was Jesus' Ascension into Heaven from the Mount of Olives. Alan Nelson's article "Some Configurations of Staging" suggests that beneath the scaffold for Heaven a hill was constructed which represented the Mount of Olives, where Jesus goes to pray during the Agony. He appears in the same place for the Ascension. During the Agony, an angel descends to Jesus to offer him the host and chalice, and at the end of the Ascension, Jesus rises into heaven out of sight: "Hic ascendit ob oculis eorum".(43) Nelson suggests that a winch arrangement was permanently installed in the Heaven scaffold and that it was used to lower the angel, remove the angel, and finally to accomplish Jesus' Ascension.(44)

For this production, the Ascension was left largely to the imagination of the audience. Jesus stood at center stage with the disciples and Maries gathered around him in the platea, or floor level, looking up. After He gave them the Great Commission and promised to always be [page 129] with them, the play concluded with a reprise of the song that had welcomed him in the Entry to Jerusalem.