Liturgical drama in the context of E. K. Chambers

Esther is a play in three acts written in 1689 by the French dramatist, Jean Racine. It was premièred on January 26, 1689, performed by the pupils of the Maison royale de Saint-Louis, an educational institute for young girls of noble birth. The subject is taken from the biblical Book of Esther.

Esther remains one of Racine's lesser known works as it has only three instead of the classical five acts. It dates from the last period of his career when he entered government work and was requested by Madame de Maintenon to return to liturgical drama. It is often negatively compared to Racine's 1691 biblical play written for Maintenon, Athalie.

The Feast of Fools or Festival of Fools (Latin: festum fatuorum, festum stultorum) was a feast day on 1 January celebrated by the clergy in Europe during the Middle Ages, initially in Southern France, but later more widely. During the Feast, participants would elect either a false Bishop, false Archbishop, or false Pope. Ecclesiastical ritual would also be parodied, and higher and lower-level clergy would change places. The lack of surviving documents or accounts, as well as changing cultural and religious norms, has considerably obscured the modern understanding of the Feast, which originated in proper liturgical observance, and has more to do with other examples of medieval liturgical drama, though there is some connection with the earlier pagan (Roman) feasts of Saturnalia and Kalends or the later bourgeois in Sotie. Over the course of a week, the ceremonies would be led by different people in positions of power within the church. On 26 December, St. Stephen's Day, the deacons led the ceremonies. The sub-priests (or vicars) were in charge on 27 December, St. John's Day, the choirboys on 28 December, Holy Innocents’ Day, and the sub-deacons on the first of January, the Feast of the Circumcision. There is some disagreement on whether the term Feast of Fools was originally used to refer to the collection of days or specifically the celebrations taking place on the first of January. The word "fool" is used as a synonym for humble, as was common in the 11th century, rather than the modern use that treats it as another term for clown or jester.