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M D Anderson's book draws on contemporary art for this, as I recall.  But you probably know it.  We got the two thieves to bite on capsules when their throats were cut (Death of Christ), so that blood trickled from their mouths.  The audience were convinced they saw it spurting from their throats and asked how we managed it. Kathryn Walls

-----Original Message-----
From: REED-L: Records of Early English Drama Discussion [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Michael O'Connell
Sent: Saturday, 15 May 2010 11:27 a.m.
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Query about blood

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