The clergy encouraged the staging of mystery plays from around 1350. Performed in English these taught the Christian stories to the people who could not read, nor understand the Latin used in church. The plays were locally written and produced and those from only four towns survive: Wakefield, Chester, Coventry and York.
The plays were suppressed in the Reformation but in recent years some have been resurrected.
This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
Chester Players
born in Paris in 1844. Oscar Wilde wrote Salome for her. Died 1923.
Pantomime clown appearing at Sadler's Wells, Drury Lane and Covent Garden theatres. The traditional clowns' make-up, being called Joey and many of the gags and tricks date back to Grimaldi. Born i...
Comic play. Probably the best known work of Oliver Goldsmith. Originally entitled 'Mistakes of a Night'. The daughter of a wealthy countryman poses as a servant in order to win over her nervous sui...
Actor. Born Ralph David Richardson in Cheltenham. Along with Laurence Olivier and John Gielgud, he dominated British theatre throughout the latter half of the 20th century. He started his career wi...
Person, Cinema, Theatre, TV & Radio, USA
Actor. Born in Islington. For many years he was a relatively unknown stalwart with the Royal Shakespeare and National Theatre companies. It was in 1981 that he achieved national fame, playing the l...
Artist active in 2020 with a number of long-running projects, and involved in a number of campaigns. She is a long-time campaigner against the death penalty and communicated with Herman Wallace for...
We'd always assumed that this war was known as the Great War until WW2 came along at which point it was renamed as World War One or the First World War. But the term was first used in print in 1920...
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