Mystery play in the context of "Livery companies"

Blackface is the practice of performers using burned cork, shoe polish, or theatrical makeup to portray a caricature of black people on stage or in entertainment. Scholarship on the origins or definition of blackface vary with some taking a global perspective that includes European culture and Western colonialism. Blackface became a global phenomenon as an outgrowth of theatrical practices of racial impersonation in theatres across the British Empire, where it was integral to the development of imperial racial politics. Scholars with this wider view may date the practice of blackface to as early as Medieval Europe's mystery plays when bitumen and coal were used to darken the skin of white performers portraying demons, devils, and damned souls. Still others date the practice to English Renaissance theater, in works such as William Shakespeare's Othello and Anne of Denmark's personal performance in The Masque of Blackness.

However, some scholars see blackface as a specific practice limited to American culture that began in the minstrel show; a performance art that originated in the United States in the early 19th century and which contained its own performance practices unique to the American stage. Scholars taking this point of view see blackface as arising not from a European stage tradition but from the context of class warfare from within the United States, with the American white working poor inventing blackface as a means of expressing their anger over being disenfranchised economically, politically, and socially from middle and upper class White America.

Romance studies or Romance philology (Aragonese: filolochía romanica; Catalan: filologia romànica; French: romanistique; Italian: filologia romanza; Portuguese: filologia romance; Romanian: romanistică; Spanish: filología románica) is an academic discipline that covers the study of the languages, literatures, and cultures of areas that speak Romance languages. Romance studies departments usually include the study of Spanish, French, Italian, and Portuguese. Additional areas of study include Romanian and Catalan, on one hand, and culture, history, and politics on the other hand.

Becoming proficient in Romance studies requires extensive specialized training focused on a thorough exploration of the histories of languages and literatures. This education includes detailed study in textual scholarship, paleography, and classical languages, which are core aspects of philological disciplines.

A livery company is a type of guild or professional association that originated in medieval times in London, England. Livery companies comprise London's ancient and modern trade associations and guilds, almost all of which are styled the "Worshipful Company of" their craft, trade or profession. There are 113 livery companies as of March 2025. They play a significant part in the life of the City of London, not least by providing charitable-giving and networking opportunities. Liverymen retain voting rights for the senior civic offices, such as the Lord Mayor and Sheriffs of the City Corporation, London's ancient municipal authority with extensive local government powers.

The term livery originated in the designed form of dress worn by retainers of a nobleman and then by extension to special dress to denote status of belonging to a trade. Livery companies evolved from London's medieval guilds, becoming corporations by royal charter responsible for training in their trades, as well as for the regulation of aspects such as wage control, labour conditions and industry standards. Early guilds often grew out of parish fraternal organizations, where numerous members of the same trade lived in close proximity often congregating at the same church. Like most organisations during the Middle Ages, these livery companies had close ties with the Roman Catholic Church (before the Protestant Reformation), endowing religious establishments such as chantry chapels and churches, observing religious festivals and hosting ceremonies as well as well-known mystery plays. Most livery companies retain their historical religious associations, although nowadays members are free to follow any faith or none.

A calvary, also called calvary hill, Sacred Mount, or Sacred Mountain, is a type of Christian sacred place, built on the slopes of a hill, composed by a set of chapels, usually laid out in the form of a pilgrims' way. It is intended to represent the passion of Jesus Christ and takes its name after Calvary, the hill in Jerusalem where Jesus was crucified.

These function as greatly expanded versions of the Stations of the Cross that are usual in Catholic churches, allowing the devout to follow the progress of the stages of the Passion of Christ along the Via Dolorosa in Jerusalem. Each chapel contains a large image of the scene from the Passion it commemorates, sometimes in sculpture, that may be up to life-size. This kind of shrine was especially popular in the Baroque period when the Holy Land was under Ottoman Turkish rule and it was dangerous and highly difficult to make a pilgrimage to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem.

The Chester Mystery Plays is a cycle of mystery plays originating in the city of Chester, England and dating back to at least the early part of the 15th century. They were banned during the reign of Elizabeth I for "Popery" by the Church of England.

Theatre festivals are amongst the earliest types of festival. Classical Greek theatre was associated with religious festivals dedicated to Dionysus, called the City Dionysia. The medieval mystery plays were presented at the major Christian feasts. Theatre as an everyday part of life is a comparatively recent phenomenon.

In recent years, theatre festivals have been established to promote various types of theatre, such as the works of William Shakespeare and George Bernard Shaw. Many festivals, such as those in the fringe theatre movement, promote the work of beginning playwrights (called "new writing") and performers.