Does anyone know of records that indicate how the portrayal of the
shedding of blood was managed on the late English medieval stage? There
are of course a good many references to the blood that Christ sheds in
the passion through last judgment pageants, and I'm assuming this was
graphically represented. And the slaughter of the innocents was another
likely scene of grotesque bloodshed. Were animal bladders or leather
sacks used?
There are a number of references to French theater in John Spalding
Gatton's 1991 essay, and Abigail has put me on to a reference to blood
in a leather sack in a Becket play in Canterbury.
Are there other records in English sources?
Michael O'Connell
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