The Digby Play of Mary Magdalene

by Chester N. Scoville (Editor)

Few medieval plays in English have attracted as much twenty-first-century interest as the Digby Mary Magdalene , an early-fifteenth-century drama that, as Chester Scoville puts it, is “probably the most spectacular of the late medieval English plays.” This new edition presents a modernized text of the play, with extensive annotation (both marginal glosses and explanatory footnotes), an insightful introduction, and a helpful selection of background contextual materials.

Genres: Plays, Medieval, School

120 pages, Paperback

First published November 30, 2017

Reviews

[Emi · Rating 3 out of 5]

The thing with Early Modern / Medieval plays is that most of them are not as serious as you think. They are, above all else, farcical and contradictory and hyperbolic. It’s just the name of the game. Of course, serious issues are depicted. Children are slaughtered on the command of a zealous king, a father will fight off suitors and buy his daughter time to chose whomever she’d like to marry. However these themes are strictly in the background. At the forefront, you are graced with slapstick Disney comedy of: “And we will come for you!” a booming voice chimes. Accompanying it comes a very flat “You’re supposed to be scared, why aren’t they scared Marty-“. So, although this is *the* play of Mary Magdalene, it’s equally as hilarious to my modern eyes. However, the one memorable, “this wasn’t supposed to happen” moment came close to the end.

The newly pregnant Queen, as well as the King of France, after having been led to Christ by Mary Magdalene grew very adamant with the idea of embarking on a pilgrimage to become properly baptized. The voyage by ship quickly grew violent on the rough waters, but still manageable. In the midst of it all, the Queen found herself in active labour with no midwives to aid her. The Queen and her child unfortunately did not make it. And once it was known that there were corpses onboard, everything began to move very quickly. A dead body can bring nothing but maladies and curses to a crew and their ship, and thus the process of the disposal of the deceased was swiftly kick-started. They were simply meant to be thrown overboard. The king would have none of it. Albeit requiring the help of a few crew, he did not think twice about risking his own life to row to a rock face which remained above sea level, all in the midst of an ongoing storm. That is where he laid the two of them to rest.

It is the unwavering and loyal respect to the burial rites of your love that I cannot help but think to be the most intimate gesture of them all. That even in death, you have someone to take care of you. Antigone means all that much to me for the same reason. In a play about Mary Magdalene it is the love between a Queen and her King that I could not stop thinking about since I finished it.

(I feel like it is my duty to mention that in true hyperbolic fashion, the Queen did not remain dead for very long. And the two loves were reunited, not to worry!)

Altogether, the play oozes love. Love conquers all. Love and devotion are the answers to purging all evils. Love. Love love love. Try it sometime.

[Lulu]

rip mary magdalene, you would have loved the fka twigs album she named for you

[Aubrie · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Yff ony thyng amysse be,
Blame connyng, and nat me.
I desyer the redars to be my frynd,
Yff ther be ony amysse, that to amend” (lines 2140-2144).

[Emily Hean · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had a hard time choosing a rating for this one because it's a medieval play, and as someone who isn't really a medieval scholar (aside from the two university classes I've taken, lol) I didn't know how to rate it. I decided to just hold it up against the other medieval plays I've read, as well as just measuring my amusement and general enjoyment of the book and I came to my 4 star rating.

[Mia · Rating 4 out of 5]

what a strange strange play