Can you create your own?
A modern-spelling script, used for our weekly read-throughs, can be downloaded by clicking here. The fifth play from the York Corpus Christi Plays deals with temptation of Adam and Eve, and their fall from grace. It is based on the third Chapter of Genesis. The Fall has been a popular play both on the waggons and at fixed sites- despite the challenges involved in creating a talking snake, a naked Adam and Eve, and the appearance of God. Interpretations have included child actors before the Fall, becoming adults after biting the apple (2012); mud-daubed cave-people (2016); and the ever-popular flesh-coloured leotards. In 2014, Eve bit into the apple as the Minster Bell tolled in the background. On which note- both the Bible and the York Plays, the fruit is not described. However, in the popular imagination, it's an apple- a pun on the Latin malum (which means both "apple" and "evil"). The play was originally performed by the Coopers- who made barrels and tubs. Whilst there is no obvious link to the play's content, modern proverbs about one bad apple might apply... The original script, in 15th Century Middle English, can be found here, courtesy of Prof. Clifford Davidson and the University of Rochester's TEAMS Middle English Text Series. A modernised and edited version of the script can be downloaded by clicking here (PDF). Watch an adaptation by Tom Straszewski: |