Morality Play by Barry Unsworth

Morality Play by Barry Unsworth

My review:

Brilliant Literary Historical Fiction, January 15, 2010

By	Douglas S. Wood "Vicarious Life" (Monona, WI) - See all my reviews

Barry Unsworth writes literary historical fiction. Now there's a sentence that sounds as much like a challenge as a description, by which I mean his writing lifts the genre above clanging swords and abundant décolletage.

Morality Play is a murder mystery set in 14th century England. Our narrator Thomas is a Benedictine brother "outside his diocese without license"; enticed by the delights and promise of a spring day, he wandered off and is still wandering months later when he comes across a band of players in the woods arguing over what to do with a dead body. The dead body is not a murder victim, but rather a deceased member of the troupe.

After Thomas is allowed to join the players, they make their way to a nearby town. When the standard Play of Adam fails to fill the coffers, their poverty drives them to a startling innovation: they adapt the "morality play" and base it on real events, to wit a play based on a recent murder of a young boy by young woman. Medieval morality plays portrayed good versus evil with characters personifying attributes on one side or the other. Unsworth's play includes God, Mankind, Death, Devil, Justice, Good Counsel, and Truth to name some.

With only hours to prepare, the players must ad lib and they soon find that their assigned roles organically guide them toward a critical examination of the supposed facts of the crime. After the first performance the troupe spreads across the town to find out more for their evening's performance. Before all is said and done, they get very near the truth and find that they have mightily displeased the local lord.

Aside from giving the reader an interesting mystery, Unsworth also takes us literally backstage in the life and work of a traveling medieval theater group. He also convincingly recreates life and the social order of 14th century English town with the threat of plague and famine on Earth followed soon thereafter by hellfire. Unsworth's key insight, however, is found in his exploration of the way that roles can confine and define human behavior. Morality Play is a highly entertaining and stimulating read.

***

Here's an interesting quiz by the same name.

Morality Play