In the Middle Ages, theater left the church of moved outside to a secular stage. An interesting video describes the transition from pulpit to public venue, discussing common plot lines and other aspects of medieval drama. Animated summaries of well-known plays show how the plays of the period still relied on religious themes but slowly began to veer into the realm of morality plays.

Concepts

elements of drama, dramatic plays, medieval history

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Additional Tags

visual and performing arts

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Instructional Ideas

• Read an excerpt from Everyman, the morality play mentioned in the video, to get a feel for the type of drama produced during the time period
• Watch the next video in the series and track the transition of the theater over time

Classroom Considerations

• References earlier videos in the series that contain key background information

• This video is hosted on YouTube

Pros

• An engaging speaker gives a thorough overview of the topic
• Supports information with a variety of visual elements

Cons

• Packs a lot of information into a short time frame, making it difficult to digest it all

Common Core

RL.9-10.7 RL.11-12.7 RH.9-10.7 RH.11-12.7