ABSTRACT
One of the mysteries of medieval theatre that generates more interest than its significance probably deserves concerns the number of wheels on a pageant waggon. Readers of Medieval English Theatre will hardly need reminding that responsibility for the problem rests with David Rogers’ early 17th-century descriptions of the Chester plays compiled from the notes left by his father, Robert Rogers, Archdeacon of Chester, who died in 1595. The academic consensus, informed by common sense and the weight of evidence from Chester and elsewhere, has come down heavily in favour of four-wheeled vehicles for the staging of processional drama. Wheels on the outside of the enclosing pageant cloths, as on some of the Brussels waggons, or a side view without depth would not, of course, have created the same effect. The academic consensus, informed by common sense and the weight of evidence from Chester and elsewhere, has come down heavily in favour of four-wheeled vehicles for the staging of processional drama.
