The tropes was a verbal (sung or chanted) embellishment, an insertion into the liturgical text of the Mass. The most significant of these short embellishments was Quem Quaeritis, (925) "Whom Seek Ye," which was probably originally sung, antiphonally in Latin, by two sections of the choir. The four lines of text comes directly from the New Testament, (The Gospel of St. Luke, Chapter 24).
 

Quem quaeritis in sepulchro, O Christicole? Jesum Nazarenum crucifixum, O caelicolae. Non est hic, surrexit sicut praedixerat. Ite, nuntiate quia surrexit de sepulchro.

Whom seek ye in the sepulchre, O Christian women? Jesus of Nazareth, the crucified, O heavenly one. He is not here; He is risen, as he foretold. Go, announce that He has risen from the sepulchre.

Within approximately 40 years, this short playlet is being performed not by the choir, but by four brethren (priests) -- three representing the women who have gone to the tomb to anoint Christ's body with oil and the fourth representing the Angel. Bishop Ethelwold (912-984) of Winchester, England, not only includes the text of Quem Quaeritis in Regularis Concordia (ca. 970), a book of rules and advice for the English Benedictines, but gave directions on how to stage the action.

Staging

Quem Quaeritis was presented near the high alter. As the playlets were extended and additional scenes were added, they were staged on a number of small "platforms" distributed around the church. Both the performer and the audience (congregation) would move from one "platform" (or scene) to the next. Giotto di Bondone (1267-1337) used the same basic concept when he painted the twenty-three scenes of the Life of Christ on the walls of the Cappella Scrovegni in Padua.

The mansion, or station, was the scenic facade used to locate the action of the play.The plateau was the neutral playing area on which the actors performed.

A pageant wagon used in England held the mansion, the plateau, and a dressing area on one structure. This wagon stage would then be moved from one gathering of audience to the next, much like a float in a parade.

As the plays became longer and more complicated, it became more and more difficult to stage them indoors. There was also the feeling that the action in some of the plays, such as the Slaughter of the Innocents from the Ordo Rachelis, an Epiphany Play, was too violent, too non-Christian, to be presented within the church. When the dramatic production moved out doors, the plays were presented (spoken, not sung) in the vernacular (the language of the people) by laymen. Although the dramas were still religious, they were no longer a part of worship.

The trade guilds produced these plays outside of the church. These medieval unions provided the money and personal needed to present the plays. The church continued to provide the scripts and directorial leadership.

Mystery, Miracle, and Morality Plays

Mystery Play
The plot and characters were drawn from the books of the Bible. It was the major form of Medieval drama. The best examples are the cycle plays of England. The York Cycle (14th century) contained forty-eight short plays and took approximately 14 hours to perform. Of the forty-eight plays, eleven deal with the Old Testament (from Creation to the crossing of the Red Sea), thirteen cover the period from the Annunciation to Palm Sunday, twenty-three cover the final week of Christ's earthly life and His Assumption into Heaven, and one describes Judgement Day. The last known medieval performance of the York Cycle was in 1569.

The Second Shepherd's Play (mid 15th century) from the Wakefield Cycle or The Passion Play which dramatizes the last week of Christ's life -- from His triumphal entry on Palm Sunday through His Ascension into Heaven. Probably the most famous Passion Play is the Oberammergau (Germany) Passion Play which has been presented every ten years since the middle of the 17th century. 

Miracle Play
Built its plot around the lives and the works of the saints. They were usually performed on the saint's feast day. Some of the scripts were biblical, others were not.

The four St. Nicholas plays from the Fleury Play-Book (13th century France) -- Tres Fili (Three Daughters), Tres Clerici (Three Scholars), Iconia Sanctus Nicholaus (Image of Saint Nicholas) and Filius Getronius (Getron's Son). These plays were presented, in Latin, on St. Nicholas Day -- December 6th.

Morality play
These dramas were based on the spiritual trials of the average man. They formed a bridge between the Medieval religious plays and the secular dramas of the Renaissance. The plays were allegories about the moral temptations which beset every man. The location was every man's soul. The action of the drama was the battle between good and evil to posses man's soul.

Everyman (late 15th century). Everyman is visited by Death. He is told that he can take one friend with him on his long journey. He approaches Fellowship, Kindred, Cousin, Goods, Knowledge, Discretion, Strength, Beauty, and Five Wits. All refuse. Only Good Deeds will join him on his journey. The moral is obvious.