I thought that I'd like this a lot more than I did. Unsworth writes historical fiction, and this is a 14th century tale told by a monk who has left his parish and joined a troupe of traveling players. The group arrives in a small village just after the death of a local boy, and they break from the tradition of presenting Biblical tales in order to present the "True Play of Thomas Wells". Their motive is financial, but they uncover something of a mystery surrounding the boy's death.

Unfortunately, while Unsworth's writing is decent (and the descriptions of the plays are great, particularly for the interactions between the players as they improvise on stage), the mystery is not very interesting, and the novel therefore falls somewhat flat. Morality Play isn't anywhere near the league of The Name of the Rose.