Article Review: “The Audience-Interactive Games of the Middle English Religious Drama” by Peter Ramey

Ramey’s article creates a framework for understanding medieval religious drama using a very unlikely source—videogame design theory. Borrowing videogame design theory’s understanding of multiplayer internet-based games as “systems of uncertainty,” (56) Ramey builds a definition of the medieval game as “meaningful play” (57) within an interactive and rule-governed encounter, which given religious drama’s emphasis on audience response, can be understood as the play itself.

Using this framework, Ramey analyzes three “dramatic games” (57): the Coercion Game as utilized by tyrant characters, the Subversion Game as utilized by “underlings” (63), and the Conversion Game as utilized by the Christ character. Each Game has a different understanding of meaningful play: Coercion Game as power, Subversion Game as pleasure, and Conversion Game as presence. Ramey expounds on each of these games and definitions of play throughout the article, using the York, Towneley, and Chester cycles as support. While the article is more explorative than conclusive, Ramey ultimately argues for a revision of how modern viewers understand medieval theater; it is a participatory experience that requires the audience member to be more than a passive spectator.

Ramey does not explicitly quote or reference the N-Town Plays. However, his article is useful in its thorough treatment of other plays and of medieval audience writ large, and is therefore a worthwhile read!

Ramey, Peter. “The Audience-Interactive Games of the Middle English Religious Drama.” Comparative Drama 71.1 (2013): 55-83. Proquest. Web. 13 Nov. 2015.