What is Mumming? A brief synopsis.
Mummers plays have traditionally been performed through the Christmas period for many centuries.
Each play lasts around 10 minute and focuses on the theme of good versus evil and the thwarting of the devil’s attempts to take the souls of the honest man. The devil is usually defeated by a doctor with his magic cure. The theme of death and resurrection is included to represent the old year changing to the new. The play also includes Old Father Christmas and a Fool.
The hero of a mummers play is very often King George or Saint George who engages in battle with a dragon and a foreign knight. Both George and the knight are attracted to the "lady" in the play. The foreign character in Prize Old Mummer's plays are chosen each year to be a worthy person to be lampooned. In a tradtional play, the principal foreign knight would have been a Turk, harking back to the times of The Crusades.
In olden times, mummers plays were seen as a form of begging as people performed their act for monetary reward. Such begging was frowned upon and so the players would disguise themselves by colouring their features and wearing tatter coats.
The tradition of begging continues: After the play, however, Prize Old Mummers “begging” benefits local hospices, so if you enjoy the play, please give generously.
Mummers Plays are seasonal folk plays performed by troupes of actors known as mummers or guisers (or by local names such as rhymers, pace-eggers, soulers, tipteerers, galoshins, guysers, and so on)
Although the term mummers has been used since medieval times, no play scripts or performance details survive from that era, and the term may have been used loosely to describe performers of several different kinds. Mumming may have precedents in German and French carnival customs, with rare but close parallels also in late medieval England
Mumming takes place throughout England and other places. Notably, Ireland and Newfoundland. The photo below shows the participants in the International Mummers Unconvention in Gloucester in 2014.
Each play lasts around 10 minute and focuses on the theme of good versus evil and the thwarting of the devil’s attempts to take the souls of the honest man. The devil is usually defeated by a doctor with his magic cure. The theme of death and resurrection is included to represent the old year changing to the new. The play also includes Old Father Christmas and a Fool.
The hero of a mummers play is very often King George or Saint George who engages in battle with a dragon and a foreign knight. Both George and the knight are attracted to the "lady" in the play. The foreign character in Prize Old Mummer's plays are chosen each year to be a worthy person to be lampooned. In a tradtional play, the principal foreign knight would have been a Turk, harking back to the times of The Crusades.
In olden times, mummers plays were seen as a form of begging as people performed their act for monetary reward. Such begging was frowned upon and so the players would disguise themselves by colouring their features and wearing tatter coats.
The tradition of begging continues: After the play, however, Prize Old Mummers “begging” benefits local hospices, so if you enjoy the play, please give generously.
Mummers Plays are seasonal folk plays performed by troupes of actors known as mummers or guisers (or by local names such as rhymers, pace-eggers, soulers, tipteerers, galoshins, guysers, and so on)
Although the term mummers has been used since medieval times, no play scripts or performance details survive from that era, and the term may have been used loosely to describe performers of several different kinds. Mumming may have precedents in German and French carnival customs, with rare but close parallels also in late medieval England
Mumming takes place throughout England and other places. Notably, Ireland and Newfoundland. The photo below shows the participants in the International Mummers Unconvention in Gloucester in 2014.
