Chapter 1 Summary

Morality Play begins on a cold December in fourteenth-century England. Chapter one introduces readers to the narrator, Nicolas Barber, as he stumbles upon a group of actors mourning the death of their friend and fellow actor Brendan. Nicolas is an impoverished student of the clergy who seems to evoke the laws of the Holy Order only when they can benefit him. As the chapter opens, Nicolas is attempting to escape the grip of his lover's angry husband. He agreed to have sexual relations with the woman in the hopes that she would give him some food; unfortunately, her husband arrived home unexpectedly, and in his escape Nicolas, left his cloak behind. He flees through the edge of the woods, fearing he may be discovered if he takes the open road. As he is walking, he comes upon an unusual group of travellers who...