Editing Passion Play (section)

===Staging and set design===
The [[Stagecraft|stage]] was a wooden structure, almost as broad as it was long, elevated but slightly above the ground and open on all sides. A house formed the background; a [[balcony]] attached to the house represented [[Heaven]]. Under the balcony three [[cross]]es were erected. Sometimes the stage was divided into three sections by [[stage door|doors]]. Along the sides of the stage, taken lengthwise, stood the houses required for the production; they were indicated by fenced-in spaces, or by four posts upon which a roof rested. The [[Gates of Hell|entrance into]] [[Hell]] was pictured by the mouth of a monster, through which the [[Devil]] and the [[Soul (spirit)|soul]]s captured or released during the plays passed back and forth. The actors entered in solemn procession, led by musicians or by a præcursor ([[herald]]), and took their stand at the places appointed them. They remained on the stage all through the performance; they sat on the barriers of their respective divisions, and were permitted to leave their places only to [[dialogue (fiction)|recite]] their lines. As each actor finished speaking, he returned to his place. The audience stood around the stage or looked on from the windows of neighbouring houses. Occasionally platforms, called "bridges", were erected around the stage in the form of an [[amphitheatre]].