Clifford Davidson's latest book, Corpus Christi at York: A Context for Religious Drama, challenges preconceived notions regarding the York cycle plays and delves into new and exciting contexts for understanding them. His latest work sets out to contextualize York medieval drama in a variety of ways that may, at first glance, seem incongruous. As the study proceeds each chapter comes together to create a larger picture of these enduring plays. He seeks to answer why the York plays were continually produced over 200 years in the midst of pressures from multiple arenas to end them. Davidson argues that through the analysis of various disciplinary theories and considering social, political and religious viewpoints the reader will find that the cycle plays of York survived a lengthy history because they provided the city, guilds and people of York with a way in which to safely test the boundaries of their world. He makes use of literary, social, psychological, aesthetic, and spatial theory to lead the reader through a vibrant picture of the production of these plays in the world of medieval York.

Beginning with the social history of the plays and York itself, Davidson tackles the various demographic and historical landscapes of this period in York. He builds a strong case for why these plays continued, not least of all as a means by which the Corporation and the guilds sought to affirm the identity of the city while tackling various crises. Citing population fluctuations, disease, harvest shortfalls, and economic distress, Davidson sets the scene for a York that experienced great trials during the 200-year history of these plays. He proves to the reader that the York plays were in fact a means of reinforcing cultural memory through salvation history, stating that even in difficult times these plays “reinforced the collective memory of times past and made them relevant to contemporaries” (32).

The following chapters each tackle a different area of context for these plays: visual piety, color, the pageant route, the soundscape, charity, and bullying. Most interesting are the chapters on visual piety and the soundscape, each introducing unique ways of considering the original means of production of these plays. Focusing on visual theory, the chapter on visual piety brings to light many interesting ideas emphasizing the correlation in medieval visual thought between seeing and touching. Davidson utilizes this visual theory to conclude that audiences were not simply passive watchers of these plays but instead active participants in the narrative, stating that, “seeing also could be a channel that, through faith, might lead one to access God's grace” (37). His interweaving of classical and medieval thought on vision and touch are quite interesting and develop a number of new areas for research and consideration.

Davidson's chapter on the soundscape that accompanied the York plays brings to life all of the sights and sounds, planned and unplanned, that would have accompanied this religious and civic exploration. Similarly to the chapter on visual piety, this chapter helps to place the reader as a spectator in medieval York, experiencing the sounds of the plays. He emphasizes the fact that the sounds such as the Minster's bells would have highlighted the feeling of “expectancy” rather than a feeling of leisure. Throughout the book Davidson builds the case that these plays were primarily a vehicle for expression of salvation history, corporeal engagement, and an active form of worship for the people watching. Successfully arguing that these plays survived for so long because the people found great value in them on multiple levels, Davidson explores how these plays were also perceived as an act of charity to the city and people of York.

The ending chapter on bullying, co-written with Sheila White, feels somewhat out of place in the present study and, in fact, Davidson references in his preface that this chapter was not part of his original plan for the book. Unfortunately, it does seem as an afterthought rather than an integral part of the narrative. The ending of the preceding chapter offers larger conclusions for the argument of the book, making the next chapter seem like an addendum rather than a cohesive part of the whole. While an interesting analysis of the York plays as an expression of bully dynamics, the chapter does not really seem to fully engage with the other ideas of the work. Davidson and White write, “by bringing together interdisciplinary research from very different disciplines, historical and literary study as well as psychodynamic theory, our investigation in this chapter aims to present a broader and ‘richer’ picture of the sociological and psychological context of the York Corpus Christi plays” (208). This is, in fact, the goal of the book as a whole and if this chapter had been more seamlessly included in the whole work it would have better served the larger argument of the book.

This work is very well researched and includes a treasure trove of information on these plays. Davidson's extensive footnotes and bibliography provide a plethora of resources and context to the reader for further study. While the York cycle plays have been researched extensively, this book takes a unique perspective on these plays and is well worth the read. Davidson will encourage you to consider these plays in a new light and will inspire renewed excitement for this subject. Corpus Christi Plays at York offers fresh scholarship in this area that is sure to inspire scholars to consider new and thought-provoking ways to contextualize these plays.