As the actors were paid, they were
expected to be efficient, and the duty of testing their qualifications
was delegated either to a pageant-master or to a committee of
experienced actors. A York ordinance dated April 3, 1476, shows that
four of "the most cunning, discreet, and able players" were summoned
before the mayor during Lent for the purpose of making a thorough
examination of plays, players, and pageants, and "insufficient persons,"
in whatever requirement--skill, voice, or personal appearance--their
defect lay, were mercilessly "avoided." No single player was allowed to
undertake more than two parts on pain of a fine of forty shillings.
From the York proclamation of 1415 we learn that the players were
expected to be in their places between 3 and 4 a.m., while the prologue
of the Coventry plays contains the lines:
At Sunday next yf that we may
At six of the belle, we gynne our play
In N---- towne.
This is interesting, as proving that pageants were sometimes acted in a
number of places, somewhat in the style of strolling players. It is
known for a fact that the Grey Friars of Coventry had a cycle of Corpus
Christi plays; and it has been conjectured that they were forced by the
competition of the Trade Gilds to exhibit them outside the town.
Whatever may have been the case with the players, it is certain that
such plays were not confined to the centres of which we have spoken.
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