S.Race (1946)
Source:
*Sydney Race (Auth.)
*Mummers [The Mummers' Play: Notts versions for Plough Monday.]
*Nottinghamshire Guardian,
2nd Feb.1946
*The S.Race Collection contains a manuscript of the above article, to which
is attached the typescript of a "Selston" play text (see S.Race Collection,
1924, J.P.Scothorne). This is annotated "Wkly 2/2/46". However, no copy of
an actual publication has yet been located. "Wkly" most probably refers to the
weekly edition of the Nottinghamshire Guardian. The article states;
"Almost as familiar in Victorian times as the carols of Christmas was the
Mummers' Play & its popularity was widespread. Thomas Hardy in one of his
Wessex stories describes a performance, & there are versions of it in print
which come from Cornwall, Devon & Hampshire, from Oxford & Warwickshire, from
Lancashire & the neighbouring counties, & even from northern Ireland.
It had a firm hold in Nottinghamshire, particularly in the district around
Retford & in the villages near to the Vale of Belvoir. A newspaper of January
1871 states that 'a party of Mummers lately visited the towns & villages of
North Notts and highly diverted the inhabitants by their dancing, singing of
old songs, & the play of the Hobby Horse'. Mrs Chaworth Musters in her story
of 'A Cavalier Stronghold' printed a version for Plough Monday which she had
collected from Cropwell.
In the years between the two wars, there was a great revival of interest in the
play, & quite probably in this first Christmas of the peace there have been
places in which it has again been seen.
There are many versions of the play & Here is one, a little abbreviated, which
was obtained in the Selston district, twenty years ago."
Index Terms:
| Locations: |
*Bagthorpe, Notts. (SK4751); Selston, Notts. (SK4553)
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| Years: |
Perf. about 1926
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| Subjects: |
*Full Text; Christmas; Play; Fool; St. George; Slasher; Doctor; Beelzebub; Devil Doubt; Mummers; Chaworth-Musters (1890); Hardy,Thomas (?)
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| Archives: |
TDRG Archive, Ref. TD00499
|
* indicates data that has not yet been validated against the original source and/or has yet to be completely indexed.
Last Updated Jan 1992 by Peter Millington.
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