A Mummers’ Play? What’s that?

A Mummers’ Play is a short play It is usually performed in the street, a big house, or a pub and not on a stage. People in the play are just ordinary people, they are not actors. Many Mummers’ Plays have the same or similar characters. Who do you think this character is?

A fight. A death. And back to life A fight! A death! And back to life! Many Mummers’ Plays have the same sort of story. Can you see the doctor? Is there another character you can recognise? A character dies and is brought back to life again. Some people see the year and the changing seasons in the same way. In Winter things die, and in Spring they come back to life again. Perhaps this is really what the plays are celebrating. Each play has a doctor; they bring the character back to life.

Mummers’ Plays have been performed for over 900 years Mummers’ Plays have been performed for over 900 years. Nobody knows when they first started, it’s a mystery! Usually performed near the end of Winter or start of Spring. You couldn’t buy tickets for the play! Men would perform the play and, at the end, they would ask for food, a drink or some money. They were often farm workers. By the end of the year they would be running out of the food that they had managed to store. What do you think these men are doing? Why do you think they didn’t store their food in tins or fridges?

Characters in the Traditional Play St George or King George A soldier or knight A doctor A devil Little Johnny Jack, who has a big family that needs feeding. There are a lot of other characters. The characters speak in rhyme. They often introduce themselves……..

Here is another character often found in a Mummers’ Play. “In comes I, Old Father Christmas Welcome, or welcome not, I hope Old Father Christmas Will never be forgot.” Can you hear the Rhymes?

There is nearly always a Doctor in a Traditional Play. “What canst thou cure, Doctor?” “I can cure the It, the Grit, the Grunt, the Grout. Pains within and pains without.” The rhymes give the play a rhythm, they make it more interesting. Perhaps too, the performers liked the lines to rhyme as they were easier to remember. What do you think? Is it easier to remember things that rhyme?

Where did the word MUMMER come from? Nobody really knows! Perhaps from the word MUMBLE, not speaking clearly, or MIME. Early pantoMIMEs were very similar to Mummers’ Plays. or Perhaps from an old German word MUMME meaning to wear a mask; to be in disguise.

Mummers often perform in disguise. Sometimes they are called: ‘GUISERS’ Perhaps they liked to be disguised so that if their boss was watching they wouldn’t recognise them, and see them asking for food and money.

Disguise Often with coats covered in rag strips and hats with strips hanging over their faces.

A Mummers’ Play is usually performed at special times of the year Christmas, New Year, Easter, Halloween, All Souls’ Day, Plough Monday. What time of year do you think this play is being performed?

A drawing of a Mummers’ Play around 900 years old! Why do you think it’s a drawing not a photograph? Where do you think they are performing? Can you see the performers? Do you recognise any of the characters?

Find out about other Traditional Folk Arts: Mummers’ Plays – including “How to write your own Mummers’ Play” Well Dressing Broom Dancing Maypole Dancing Traditional Song https://folk3d.wordpress.com/educational-resources/

Have fun!