SOURCE: An introduction to The Cambridge Companion to Medieval English Theatre, edited by Richard Beadle, Cambridge University Press, 1994, pp. 1-36.

In the following essay, Tydeman discusses the surge of critical and popular interest in medieval theater, the geographical origins of plays and their respective staging patterns, and the critical controversy surrounding the extent of the influence of church ceremonies on the development of the dramas.

 You that love England, who have an ear for her music…
Listen. Can you not hear the entry of a new theme? 

During the last few decades, the 'new theme' of medieval English theatre may be said to have swelled beyond all expectation. In the place of the modest harmonious arias of a few soloists we now confront a mighty but not totally co-ordinated anthem issuing from a many-throated chorus. In the past thirty years the status of medieval plays has been transformed...