The York Play: Expanding the Boundaries of Civic Drama¹

Abstract

While current scholarship on late medieval, civic cycle drama warns against assuming an either antagonistic or unifying function of that drama, scholars continue to reinscribe a conflictual relationship negotiated through cycle production. Examining assumptions about both participants and the pageant route, this article reveals how pre‐conceived notions of the York cycle's cultural function have limited our interpretations of the text and context. The article concludes with a brief case study which demonstrates that, during a time of economic recession, sources of pageant funding expanded to include all civic labourers, altering the very conception of ‘civic’ negotiated by and through the play.