Le mystère de la Passion : Le troisième jour

     This was a difficult play to read for several reasons. I found the writing dry and repetitive, nothing of note in the action of the story, and the only character who showed a struggle of decision was Pontias Pilate. If the play was a psychological dive into the motivations of Pilate, that might have been interesting, but one must remember the essential purpose of mystery plays was didactic for an illiterate public. Although the writing and the story itself are not interesting, the translator of this edition, Paula Giuliano, is helpful in pointing out where Gréban aligns or differs from previous versions of the Passion play. In the same way that Racine will alter Greek myths to represent a christian theology, Gréban alters his story so as to best instruct his own audience. In this way, we begin to see some of the originality and adaptive tendencies dormant in many medieval playwrights.