Part of the charm of The Second Shepherds' Play—the most famous of the medieval mystery plays—is the contrast of the comical and spiritual. Most of the play deals with the efforts of three shepherds to keep a thieving scoundrel named Mak from stealing their sheep (these are the shepherds to whom the angels and the Christmas star announced the birth of Jesus). In spite of their vigilance, Mak manages to steal a lamb. The scene in which Mak and his wife Gil try to pass the lamb off as their new-born baby is some of the best comedy ever written. The play ends with angels greeting Baby Jesus in the manger.

Ford Ainsworth, the adapter, is the author of Persephone, The Bridge, and Farewell to Galatea. Ainsworth provides language which is easily understood by modern audiences of all ages. The verse is not the "sing-song" variety which makes many verse plays monotonous for the listener. This script presents the verse in paragraph form as an encouragement to actors and actresses to deliver the lines as realistic dialogue rather than as poetry. And its ease of presentation—virtually a bare stage, rags and robes for most of the costumes—means that it can be performed in the chancel of a church, on the floor of a large room, on the lawn, or even on the bed of a large truck (the medieval players performed it on pageant wagons).

The costumes and the few set pieces should have a timeless and placeless quality. The setting is supposedly a hillside in Palestine near Bethlehem, and the shepherds are those to whom the Angels announced the birth of Jesus. Yet the dialogue, characterizations, and local color are typical of Yorkshire, the county in England where guildsmen in the town of Wakefield performed the play in the fifteenth century (its name comes from the fact that it was the "second play about shepherds" in a cycle of plays).

The San Antonio Little Theatre, which presented Ainsworth's The Sheep Thief every Christmas for a number of years, "sought to recreate the open artificiality, the simplicity, and joyous spirit of a medieval production. Its players represent uninhibited trades guildsmen in festive mood, enjoying the merriment of an outdoor performance, donning odd bits of costume with no concern for authenticity, setting their stage and props as needs arise, providing their own sound effects, and singing traditional Nativity carols with disregard for their proper historic time." (From the SALT program notes)

A superb contest play, an ideal Christmas play, and a perfect piece to represent the development of English-language drama leading up to Shakespeare and the golden Age of Elizabeth. This play on the same bill with Ralph Roister Doister and Gammer Gurton's Needle is a "natural." The Sheep Thief is recommended for presentation by all groups for all types of audiences.

Other Ainsworth plays: Charity Case, The River Between