Editing Passion Play (section)

==Origin and history in Great Britain==
{{Main|Passion Plays in the British Isles}}
[[File:Cristo ya esta crucificado en san simon texcoco.JPG|thumb|Reenactment of the crucifixion of Jesus in [[Texcoco, State of Mexico|Texcoco]], Mexico]]

The origin and development of Passion Plays in Great Britain can be traced back to one of the earliest pieces of theatre in Britain, which was the [[Quem quaeritis?|Quem Quaeritis]]: four lines spoken by two [[choirs]] addressing each other in a dramatic form.<ref>{{Cite web |title=History of Passion Plays – The Passion Trust |url=https://passiontrust.org/history-of-passion-plays/ |access-date=2023-06-21 |website=passiontrust.org}}</ref> It can also be traced back to the liturgical drama used within the church and the Corpus Christi festivals which took place outside the church.<ref>Pickering, K. Key Concepts in Drama and Performance (Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005)</ref>

Passion Plays were the focal point of the [[Mystery Play]]s that were performed by city [[guild]]s in many medieval cities,<ref>Helen Cooper, Shakespeare and the Medieval World (Bloomsbury: London, 2010).</ref> the most prominent being York,<ref>Beadle, Richard and Pamela King. York Mystery Plays: A Selection in Modern Spelling (Oxford University Press, 2009).</ref> Chester and Coventry.<ref>King, Pamela and Clifford Davidson, The Coventry Corpus Christi Plays (Medieval Institute Publications: Western Michigan University Press, 2000).</ref> Public performances of Passion Plays lasted from the fourteenth century to the middle of the sixteenth century, with a few examples into the seventeenth century.

During the [[Reformation]], the Passion Plays and [[Mystery play|Mystery Cycles]] were suppressed due to their perceived [[Catholic]] influences.<ref>{{cite book |last1=John D Cox and David Scott Kastan |title=A New History of Early English Drama John D Cox and David |date=1997 |publisher=Columbia University Press |location=New York}}</ref> Eventually, in 1642 all theatre was banned with the suppression of the playhouses by a [[Puritan]] Parliament. With the [[Stuart Restoration|Restoration]], theatres opened again in 1660, this time with women permitted to perform on the stage. However, religion and politics were heavily censored for the next few hundred years in England and no Passion Play was performed publicly during this time.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Brady and Mitchell |first1=Linzy and Jolyon |title='Theatre.' The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Bible and the Arts. |date=2016 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford}}</ref>

The modern revival of Passion Plays began with the revival of the [[York Mystery Plays]] in 1951 as part of the [[Festival of Britain]], the [[Chester Mystery Plays]] in the 1970s and the York and [[Towneley Plays]] as part of the [[Edinburgh Festival]] in 1977.<ref>Beadle, Richard and Pamela King. York Mystery Plays: A Selection in Modern Spelling (Oxford University Press, 2009).</ref>