Final answer:
Audiences in the medieval period enjoyed various forms of religious drama, including liturgical plays, Mystery cycles, and Morality plays such as Everyman, which were performed outside of churches and in local languages.
Step-by-step explanation:
Audiences enjoyed liturgical plays, spiritual dramas, and morality plays in medieval dramas. These forms of religious drama, which emerged after 1200, include Mystery cycles, representing Biblical history, and Morality plays, which were allegorical dramas teaching Church doctrine and moral lessons, like the play Everyman. The transition of drama to outdoor spaces allowed for a wider public viewership and used local languages instead of Latin, marking an important shift from clergy to layman performances.
During the Medieval era, and especially around the Feast of Corpus Christi, these plays were pivotal in the dramatization of religious themes, such as events from Christ's life, stories of saints, or episodes from the Old Testament.
In Spain, similar developments like autos sacramentales also took place. The Catholic Church played a significant role in keeping theatre alive during the period after the collapse of Rome, despite theatre being attacked for its supposed immorality.
While initially performed in churches with relatively simple sets, costumes, and props, these dramas eventually expanded to public venues and travelled via Pageant Wagon tours during the late Middle Ages into the Renaissance.