Abstract:

Abstract: This letter explains the two basic reasons why some folk play actors (mummers or guisers) black up to perform - disguise and characterisation.

Abstract: This paper describes Plough Monday activities in the city of Nottingham, which died out in the inter-war years, and chronicles the establishment of its Plough Day Fair in 1712. Elsewhere in Nottinghamshire, house visits by folk play performers were an important feature of Plough Monday. However, it is concluded that these were not part of the 'Plough Bullocks' tradition in Nottingham city. Nottingham's Plough Monday activities provoked conflicts between certain sections of local society, which led to active suppression during the 19th century. These non-play conflicts contrast with the folk play customs, which were more socially acceptable.

Abstract:

Abstract: The first published work by the English novelist D.H.Lawrence (1885-1930) was a short story entitled "An Enjoyable Christmas: A Prelude" (1907). The plot centred around a folk play performance by "Guysers". Guysers only appeared once more in his writing - in his novel "The Rainbow" (1915). Given that Lawrence is well-known for portraying real people, places and events in his fiction, this article examines how well his allusions match the real Guysers of his home district, and also tries to establish what Lawrence's own involvement may have been in the tradition.

Abstract: It seems that the urge to rewrite folk plays is irresistible. Working with a large sample of composed and adapted texts, the apparent personal and cultural motivations of these wannabe folk playwrights are explored. More specifically, this study examines the textual characteristics of the rewritten plays in an attempt to determine what it is that makes the authors think that they have written a mummers' play. These features are then compared with a historical database of "authentic" Quack Doctor plays. It is suggested that similar processes and criteria have existed throughout the history of the plays, and may indeed have been the prime factor in their evolution.

Abstract: Working with a database of about 220 English folk play texts, the Scripts Explorer lets you: 1. Search for lines containing specified words or phrases, 2. View all the variants of a line, 3. See the line in the context of its script, or..., 4. Display the full script, and 5. Plot distribution maps.

Abstract: This is an electronic version of the book English Ritual Drama (ERD), published by Christopher Cawte, Alex Helm and Norman Peacock in 1967, together with three later supplements published by Cawte. It remains one of the best guides to the literature on English folk drama, assisting the location of scripts and other primary information. It lists over 1,500 places where traditional plays were performed, backed up with a bibliography of over 800 references. This edition merges the supplements with the original listings, provides enhanced features, and updates the introductory chapters.

Abstract: Most of the papers are on the play in Great Britain. Both Duncan Broomhead and Derek Schofield chose to talk in depth about single local traditions, the Alderley Mummers and the Uttoxeter Guisers respectively. Two papers dealt with aspects of sword dance plays. Christopher Cawte discussed the 19th century literature on the sword dance play in County Durham, and the Earsdon play in particular. Paul Smith on the other hand investigated the Papa Stour sword dance text, which Walter Scott famously used in his novel The Pirate. Tom Pettitt and Sandra Billington are both interested in medieval parallels with modern folk plays. Tom Pettitt spoke on the typology of revels and games in terms of context, content and form, while Sandra Billington looked at games played around the midsummer solstice and how they were connected to the scourging of Christ in Mystery and Passion plays. Peter Millington’s paper sought to break the impasse on the textual analysis of British and Irish folk Quack Doctor plays, reporting major analyses using graphical and computerised techniques. These revealed (a) evidence for a single ancestral text, (b) a revised classification scheme, and (c) a proposed genealogy for the plays. In another ‘text’-based paper Michael Preston looked at the three major families of chapbooks, and argued that each contains evidence that is frequently misread (or ignored) concerning their composition, and contemporaneous regional traditions. Two sessions related to folk play collectors. A loosely structured session - published here verbatim - concerned the late Alex Helm, who was the driving force behind research led to the publication of the influential English Ritual Drama. His close colleagues Christopher Cawte and Norman Peacock presented valuable insights how their group ‘worked’, and others went on to discuss offorts to make Helm's Collection at University College London more accessible to today’s scholars. In a similar vein, Eddie Cass discussed a second major collector - James Madison Carpenter – and the on-going project to catalogue his collection. Three of the papers discussed non-British mumming and folk plays. Terry Gunnell’s intriguingly titled, ‘Waking the "Wiggle-Waggle" Monsters’ dealt with animal figures and cross dressing in the Icelandic Vikivaki games. George Mifsud-Chircop’s paper on Carnival and New Year’s Eve drama in Malta looked at two ritual drama practices in Malta and Gozo. Finally, in this group, John Widdowson reported field work he had done in the 1960s on the tradition of ‘mummering’ plays in Newfoundland. Abstracts of two papers by Neill Martin and Emily Lyle respectively cover methods of entry, and transformations of 'Galoshins' in the 20th century. An extended synopsis of an audio-illustrated paper by Peter Robson sought to establish a rationale for the choice of songs in Dorset mummers’ plays, and considered why one song (‘Husbandman and Servingman’) was by far the most popular choice.