The N-Town Play: Drama and Liturgy in Medieval East Anglia

First full examination of the N-Town Play, arguing for its reappraisal as a work of private devotion as well as public performance.

WINNER OF THE BEATRICE WHITE PRIZE, 2011

The dramatic text known as the N-Town Play, from fifteenth-century East Anglia, is a significant but mysterious compilation of late-medieval vernacular theatre. It differs radically from the better-known Northern medieval mystery plays in that it offers a double cycle of Christ's life together with that of the Virgin Mary, incorporating much liturgical material.
This book, the first full-length studyto be devoted to the N-Town Play, provides a complete reassessment of the play, setting it in its geographical, religious and political context. The author argues that liturgy, an essential part of the experience of medieval people, is key to understanding the N-Town Play, and that it is best seen as a double anthology, of liturgy within drama. She offers a detailed, but clear and accessible, presentation of this liturgical dimension, which not only guides the reader through the N-Town Play and its liturgical material, but contributes to the appreciation of other medieval texts. In particular, its discussion of the Eucharist raises questions about the play's supposed orthodoxy within the context of Lollard controversies.

PENNY GRANGER gained her PhD from the University of East Anglia.