February Vaughan Forum: Tantalising Fragments: Piecing Together Traces of a Lost Coventry Mystery Play

A talk by Dr Miriam Gill 

The cycle of Mystery Plays performed by the trade guilds of Coventry were famous in the later Middle Ages, enjoyed by royalty and, in their latter days, probably seen by William Shakespeare. But only two plays survive; the famous 'Coventry Carol' comes from one. The other plays can only be reconstructed from some expenses of the 'consumables' and the visual culture of Coventry. This forum shares the ways how fragmentary stained glass may develop our understanding of the spectacular finale of the cycle, the Drapers' play of the Last Judgement.

Miriam Gill is an expert in Medieval church painting. She is the author of numerous articles and chapters on the topic and has taught art history to adults at the universities of Leicester, Cambridge and Oxford for many years. She is also the Secretary of Leicester Vaughan College.