Pageant Wagons

The York Cycle plays were performed on pageant wagons that were pulled from one location to another around the town of York for different audiences. Basically, it is the equivalent of the modern day  parades. Because the wagons had to travel to several locations and also had to be moved quickly due to the following play coming up behind it, they had to be light, mobile, and small enough to be moved easily. Most of the time the pageants were moved by members of the guild that were putting on the particular performance.

The Wagons were a decorated wheeled platform which the actors performed on. They were small, about 8 feet by 12 feet. Some of the wagon had special effects as well, such as trap doors and rope-pulley systems. There were also wagons that had a separate scaffolding that could be attached to the wagon to allow another level of acting space.

The wagon for "The Building of the Ark" play would have to include a pulley system or a scaffolding for God to make his appearance because God should be raised above all other actors and audience members because of his spiritual importance to the religion. In medieval England especially, the artwork that portrays God, they show him always raised above the rest to honor his importance. Also, the wagon would have to show several aspects of the Shipwright's guild including some part of an ark assembled or in the process of being assembled. Also, because the wagons were so small and there was no back stage area, the set would have to be very minimal. Possibly a landscape and a heavenly sky would suffice for this particular play.

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