The
morality play is a
genre of
Medieval and
early Tudor theatrical entertainment. In their own time, these plays were known as
interludes, a broader term given to dramas with or without a
moral. Morality plays are a type of
allegory in which the
protagonist is met by
personifications of various
moral attributes who try to prompt him to choose a Godly life over one of evil. The plays were most popular in
Europe during the 15th and 16th centuries. Having grown out of the religiously based
mystery plays of the Middle Ages, they represented a shift towards a more secular base for European theatre. The earliest known morality play is
Ordo Virtutum (Latin for Order of the Virtues) composed c. 1151. It is the earliest morality play by more than a century, and the only Medieval musical drama to survive with an attribution for both the text and the music.