The Mary Play : From the N. town Manuscript

The "Mary Play" is a piece of medieval stagecraft rich in music and spectacle, and is the a play which deals with Mary's parents and her early life.

It is also a play which centres on a prayer, the "Ave Maria", and which, in its devotional intensity, reflects the central concerns of the late 15th century lay piety.

This volume presents the play as a single entity rather than as a number of pageants in a cycle play.

The introduction describes the manuscript, its language, place and staging.

There is an extensive commentary which places the play in its intellectual and theatrical contexts.