relates to the staging of mystery plays, with little information existing on the staging of
farces and sotties.
The commonest method of staging described is that usually known as “mansion and
platea”: that is, a series of identifiable locations (or lieux), sometimes raised on scaffolds,
combined with an anonymous central playing area. This arrangement, found already in
the 12th-century Jeu d’Adam and Seinte Resureccion, is specified in the prologues and
stage directions of several 15th-century plays. Performances might take place in a town
square, the courtyard of a religious house, an amphitheater, or any open space where
scaffolding could be erected. There are few references to indoor stages, notably for the
Confrérie de la Passion in Paris. Many contracts survive for the construction of stages,
some of which include audience stands and private, lockable spectator boxes. Depending
on the type of theater, the audience might face the playing area or surround it. The
illustration of the stage for the Valenciennes Passion play and the Fouquet miniature
depicting the martyrdom of St. Apollonia show both types of theater, but their exact
interpretation is a matter of debate. Performances on pageant wagons drawn by horses or
oxen, recorded from northern France and the Burgundian Netherlands, normally involved
only small-scale plays.
Most plays were organized by trade guilds, religious confraternities, or municipalities,
with a few known instances of small groups of individuals binding themselves by
contract to stage plays. Records of the staging of guild and confraternity plays are scarce,
and most of the detailed information relates to the large-scale municipal and civic
dramas, notably the play texts, expense accounts, and production records from Mons
(1501) and Romans (1509). Since the big Passion plays and saint plays were expensive to
produce, cities often tried to recoup some of their costs by charging admission to the
enclosed playing area. Prices varied for standing room, regular seats, or seats in a box. At
Romans, the church contributed half the costs and took half the income; at Valenciennes,
the actors, who signed contracts guaranteeing their good behavior and attendance, could
choose to contribute to the costs in exchange for a share in the possible profits.
A specialist might be brought in from outside the town and paid a fee to prepare and
oversee the “secrets” or special effects, which might include trapdoors, lifting machinery,
false bodies, and fireworks. The list of such feintes for the Actes des Apôtres played at
Bourges in 1536 is many pages long. A recently discovered manuscript from Provence
gives not only a list of devices required but precise instructions on how to create, for
example, a fire-breathing devil.
Although the lieux that lined the turf-covered stage at Mons were merely labeled to
indicate their changing identity from day to day, two locations were always fixed and
elaborate: Heaven and Hell. The former was normally elevated and decorated with
clouds, curtains, and revolving wheels or artificial angels. It had contrivances for the fire
at Pentecost and the dove of Noah and sometimes included a concealed lift for the
Ascension as well. Hell was at ground level, with its entrance through the animal jaws of
Hellmouth. One could see instruments of torture and mechanical devils or weird tree
roots on the exterior and smoke issuing from every orifice. At Mons, it took seventeen
men, with their own special cue sheet, to work the infernal thunder machines, cannon,
and fireworks. Music, which reflected the harmony of Heaven, was an important part of
the plays, though the instruments, as well as the furniture, curtains, and plate for the court
scenes, might be borrowed rather than purchased.
The Encyclopedia 1679