THEATRE BEFORE THE "QUEM QUAERITIS"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Name: Laurie E. W. Brandt

Telephone : (512) 926 - 9770

E-Mail: Laurie@Polyhedrongroup.com

Currently living in Austin Texas.

BA from Linfield College in McMinnville Oregon, History Major, Anthropology Minor, and free-lance researcher, writer.

 

 

 

 

Mummers Plays: A Survival of Theatre before the "Quem Quaeritis."

 

 

During the early part of the Middle Ages in Europe, before the consolidation of the Celtic and the Roman Churches, there were two very distinct and separate running traditions of theatre, thou at the time they did not see themselves as such.  The first of these traditions was that the rebirth of theatre came from the church, like Dionysus from Zeus's thigh.  The other, which is getting a little more study today is that theatre did not die out at all, but still was around in the village folk play or mummers play, which was left over from pre Christian times.

The first of these two traditions and the only one that is studied to any great extent, is that the theatre"s rebirth was through the of the Latin Church with what is called now the "Quem Quaeritis," or Whom do you seek, trope or chant.  This piece was written in about 823 in the Celtic monastery at St. Gall under the direction of Notker Balbulus (840-912), in Switzerland about one hundred and sixty years latter.  "Quem Quaeritis," was used as a bit in the vigil Mass of the Saturday before Easter.  The trope itself follows a very old formula of a question and answer, the question being asked by the leader of the song and the response from the audience or choirs.

 

This version of the "Quem Quaeritis," trope was found in "Liber Officialis". It was written by Amalarius, Bishop of Metz (775-850) who got his basic education at the court schools of the Emperor Charlemagne.  Alcuin of Northumbria (738-804), was Charlemagne"s advisor and main instructor.  He brought with him many ideas that were part of the now defunct Celtic Church with him to the court of Charlemagne.  The end of the Celtic Church came with the Council of Withby in England in the year 664 a.d., which was called to decide on the date for Easter, amongst other issues.  This merger for those two sects of western Christianity did not stamp out immediately all of the Celtic churches practices.  The Celtic churches" traditions were still very strong in the Northumbria region of England where Alcuin was raised near York.  Thus Bishop Amalarius of Metz under the training of Alcuin was probably heavily influenced by at least this one aspect of the Celtic Church.  This leads me to think that this type of trope was a tradition of the Celtic Church, as opposed to the Latin Church originally.  This first tradition of the "Quem Quaeritis," trope is the more popular view and thus the most studied. 

The second of these two traditions, which parallels the first in time, but not in space, is that of the older folk plays or rituals.  These plays are the folk plays or Mummers Plays of England and Europe.  These plays are "Johnny one notes" when it comes to plot, depth of character, they do not look at the human condition, but at the story of fertility, birth and death.  This is the theme of the Hero- Combat type dramas.  This type of play is not looked at very much, because the plays for the most part were not recorded until the late 19th century.  Because of the fact that they are not in their "pristine form", they are discounted as a legitimate tradition stretching back into time immemorial.  The other main reason is that the topic and actions of these plays had to do with things that were pre-Christian and thus forbidden to know about, except as silly superstitions of the country folks.

The formal theatrical productions that were developed in Greece and Rome, with their staging, seating and written dialogue; did eventually fade out of general use during the rise of the Christian Church in the east and west.  The plays/rituals of the folk or non noble classes still remained even when they were later given a Christian gloss (i. e. "St. George and the Dragon").  These plays were part of an oral tradition that did not fade out of existence.  These plays were given in more or less a traditional manner before the development of the "Quem Quaeritis".  The folk plays that have survived are what is left of a tradition of pre-Christian ritual drama done in mime.  This tradition is what inspired the Celtic Church, that did not have the antagonism that the Roman Church did toward all thing non Roman.  Below is a chart for Thomas Fairman Ordish"s article on folk drama that helps to explain some of its development.

  [1]

In the works of Violet Alford, Richard M. Dawkins, John C. Lawson and Alan J.  B. Wace, [2] amongst others, it has been suggested that a number of surviving folk/ritual dramas found on the European continent, especially in the Balkins, Greece, Turkey and Spain, have marked similarities to that of the English Mummers plays, including themes, dances and characters amongst their shared attributes.

It has been theorized by Alford, Dawkins et. al. that these plays spread through Eastern Europe to the low countries and then to England in the thirteenth century [3] .  This is all very possible, but I propose that the form of play called a Mummer"s play is older than they surmise in England.  True, the first written mention of the word "Mummer" appears in a charter of Prince Richard (1377-1399), written in 1377 just a few months before Richards" coronation as Richard II.  This charter exempted "mummers and our minstrels" [4]   from regulations banning citizens of London going about at night with false faces to play popular dice game.  (This dice game evidently was the forerunner of what will be called in "Hazard" by the time of Shakespeare, and latter still in the 1800"s "Craps").  It is currently thought that the "Mummers" plays were introduced in the thirteenth Century with the wool trade with what is currently passes for dialogue to explain the actions to a rituals long separated from its myth [5] .  But I believe that mummers plays came in as part of the migration of Celtic peoples who traveled northwest from the area called Mesopotamia in Asia minor, in about 2,000 B.C. . The ritual/plays then faded out for the most part when the Church stripped away the rituals from their supporting mythos starting in about 601 with the advice that Pope Gregory gave to St. Augustine of Canterbury.

He Augustine is to destroy the idols, but the temples themselves are to be aspersed with holy water, altars set up, and relics enclosed in them.  For if these temples are well built, they are to be purified from devil-worship, and dedicated to the service of the true God " And since they have a custom of sacrificing many oxen to devils, let some other solemnity be substituted in its place, such as a day of dedication or the Festivals of the Holy Martyrs whose relics are enshrined there.  On such occasions they might well construct shelters of boughs for themselves around the churches that were one temples, and celebrate the solemnity with devout feasting. [6]

The mummers plays are seasonal shows tied to the rituals of plowing, planting, harvesting, and fallowing and the starting the cycle all over again.  The calendar is not that of the church or the Romans, but that of the Celts with its double new year and has lunar based rather than solar.  The Celts started their observances at sundown the night before in the observance of "Samhain" or Halloween and May eve.  Because the troop was roving from one farm stead to another around the village, we get the tradition of masked people coming to the door asking for a treat, but now they do not have the play to perform to earn their tribute.  The folk play, as it exists today as pointed out by E. K. Chambers (1923,13-38), is divided into three main divisions, with one of those divisions split up still further into four more sections.  The plot as out lined below is the same in all four plays, only the characters change with the season.

1.  The presentation.  This is an introduction of the characters.

2.  The Play itsself.

a.  The entry of the Combatants

b.  The Combat. Within the combat, a Morris may be danced with the decapitation of the victim during the dancing for the second time of the figure known as a knot.

c.  The death and lament

d.  The cure, resurrection

3.  Then there is the collection or passing the hat for donations of money or gifts from the audience.

The round of observances starts on February second, we have Ladies day or Candlemas.  Here is celebrated the nearing of the sun and the beginnings of spring.  During this time "Plough Plays" are performed.  "Plough Plays" have usually been distinguished from the generic Mummers" plays not only by the fact that the latter were performed at Christmas, but also by the names of the characters: The Clown or Fool, Soldier, A Farmer"s boy, Ploughboy, The Lady, Eezum-Squeezum and Doctor. After the entry and introduction of the cast, the Clown and the lady announce their intent to marry, usually with this song

1. Be hold the lady bright and gay, good fortune and sweet charms---

2. So scornfully I"ve been thrown away into this booby"s arms--

3. He swears if I don"t wed him as you shall under stand

He"ll surely list for a soldier into some foreign land--

The villain Eezum-Squeezum enters fights the soldier.  Eezum-Squeezum dies.  The Ploughboy calls for a doctor who heals the villain and the play ends with another song as they pass the hat.  The troop of players are made up of all men who come together for the reason of doing this play.  These men are usually the ones who will plough the fields in the early spring, and are often called "plough jakes" or "plough stots".

We now come to the first of the two New Years of the Celtic calendar, "Beltane" (April 31, May 1), when like "Samhain" its counter part it was believe that the world swings on its hinges, and we came closer to the neither or other world on these days than any other during the year which gave these plays more power.  Robin Hood and Maid Marion, and the usual denizens of the forest at Sherwood, with the sheriff of Nottingham combatants along with Friar Tuck and Little John, we go through the same plot line as with the "Plough Play".  At this production a Morris dance is usually performed as a part of the show.  The dance troop like the actors are all men and it is used to chose a new leader of the troop with the decapitation of the old one.  This dance harkness back when the rite was performed, and the sacred king was its intended victim.

The second of the two New Years upon us and that is the day called, "Samhain" or more commonly called Halloween, All Hallows or All Souls Eve, October 31, November 1.  the type of ply acted out now is called "Soul-Cake Plays".  The Characters for this production are as follows: Dairy or Devil dout, 1st driver, 2nd driver, (Hobby) horse, Turkish knight, doctor, old women, King George, Belsie Bob.  The plot is the same as before.

Frodsham Soul-Caking Play: [7]

A Song for out side the door, Then--

Open the doors.

Open these doors and let us come in

We have your four for to win,

Whether we stand, sit or fall,

We"ll do our best to please you all.

Room, room, gallant room do I requier,

Step in King George and show thy face like fire.

King George:

In comes I, King George,

From whom all England Sprang,

Many a famous battle have I fought

And made the tyrant tremble on his throne.

Many a long year in close keep have I been

Kept out of that in prison,

Left out of that in a Rock of stone

From whence I made my grievous moan.

I Once rescued a fair lady from a giant"s gate,

The night was dark and dunge beneath my feet,

Why, that giant, he nearly struck me dead,

But with my sword I cut off his head.

I have searched and search the world all round

But a man to my equal never could be found.

Is there a man who will before me stand?

I"ll cut him down with my iron hand.

Who art thou?

Turkish Champion:

In come I, the valiant soldier,

Slasher is my name

With sword and buckler down my side

I hope to win this game.

If that be he that standest there

Who slew my master"s son and heir,

And if he sprang from royal blood

I"ll make it flow like Noah"s flood.

I'll cut thee, I will slash thee, and after that,

I will send thee over to Turkey Land to be made mincepies of.

King George:

What! thou black Morocco dog,

Let me hear no more of that.

for if I draw my deadly weapons

I shall surely break thy head.

Turkish Champion:

How canst thou break my head

When my head is made of iron,

My body armed with steel,

My hands and feet and knuckle bones

I challenge thee to feel.

King George:

Aha! What sayst thou?

Turkish Champion:

What I say I mean.

King George:

Oh actor, actor, don"t thee get too hot,

thou dost not know whom thou hast got,

Pull off thy gloves and shield,

Take up thy sword and spear.

I"ll fight thee without dread or fear.

Prepare! For life or death I do not care.

(They fight and Turkish Champion is slain)

Old Woman:

Oh! King George, King George, what hast thou done!

thou hast killed and slain my only son,

My only son, my only heir.

See how he lies bleeding there.

King George:

He challenged me to fight with him;

And how could I deny?

In this battle either he or I must die.

Old Woman:

Oh a doctor, a doctor, ten pounds for a doctor!

Is there ne"r a man to be found

To cure this man of his deadly wound.

Doctor:

Oyez ! Oyez ! In come I, John Brown,

The best quick quack doctor in the town!

I am come to cure this man of his deadly wound.

Old Woman:

How comes thou to be a doctor?

Doctor:

By my travles.

Old Woman:

How far hast thou travles, doctor?

Doctor:

Through Italy, Sicily, France and High Spain

Anmd now am returned to old England again,

To cure all sorts of diseases.

Old Woman:

What diseasis canst thou cure?

Doctor:

The Hipsy-pipsy, the palsy, the gout,

A man having 22 senses in his head,

I can cast 21 out.

Why, I sured a snag tail last week nearly 25 feet long!

Surely I can cure thy son who in not quite gone.

Old Woman:

What is thy charge, Doctor?

Doctor:

Five Pounds, Martha.  Thee being an honest woman

I"ll charge thee ten.

Old Woman:

Cure him!

Doctor:

Here, Jack, take a drop of this nip-nap

Down thy tip-tap;

Take three drops out of this bottle

Let it run down thy throttle!

Rise up, Jack, and fight the battle.

(Soldier does not rise.)

Old Woman:

Why man thou are as green as gress.

Doctor:

Oh! Martha! I had quite forgot!

I pulled the wrong bottle off the wrong cork.

I have in my inside, outside, round-about backside waistcoat pocket

A bottle which my grandfather gave me,

Called Ekee-Okee adama pokee,

To bring any dead man back to life again.

Old Woman:

Cure him!

(The Doctor gives him a dose)

Turkish Champion: (rising)

Oh! my back!

Old Woman:

What ails thy back, my son?

Turkish Champion:

My back is wounded, my heat is confounded,

Knocked out of seven senses into four-score,

Which was never known in old England before,

If you don"t believe the words I say,

Enter in, Big Head, and clear the way.

Big Head:

In come I, that never cane yet,

With my big head and little wit;

Although my wit it is but small

I"ll doing my best to please you all.

if you don"t believe the words I say,

Enter in Bellsie Bob and clear the way.

Bellsie Bob:

In come I, Bellsie Bob,

On my shoulder I carry a club,

In my hand a dripping pan,

I think myself a jolly old man.

I saddled and bridled an old black snail

And made my whip of a mous"s tail

if you don"t believe in all I say,

Enter in Dairy Dout and clear the way.

Dairy Dout:

In come I, little Dairy Dout,

With my shirt flap out,

Four yards in, five yards out,

Money I want, and money I crave,

If you don"t give me money

I"ll sweep you all to the grave.

Little Box:

In come I, Little Box,

Under my arm I carry a box,

This box is made of very fine wood,

A copper or two would do not harm,

and a shilling or so would do it some good.

(Bellsie Bob and Little Bos collect and Bellsie Bob pours his collection into his the box.)

First Driver:

In comes Dick and his merry men;

He come to see you once again.

Once he was alive but now he"s dead.

And till there remains the horse"s head.

Stand up, Dick!

Second Driver:

Now ladies and gentlemen, behold this horse.

Has many wrinkles and jinkles in the front part bauk of his forehead,

As in an acre of ploughed land.

He"s an eye like a hawk, a neck like a swan and a tooth like a lady"s pocketbook, read it if you can.

Stand up, Dick!

First Driver:

Now ladies and gentlemen,

This houre has travelled high, he"s travelled low,

he"s travelled frost, he"s travelled snow,

He"s travelled Icky-Picky,

Where there is neither houses, land or city.

by houses, thatched with poancakes, highroads paved with dumplings, and roasted pigs running about with knives and forks in their backs shouting, Who"ll eat me?,

Stand up, Dick!

Second Driver:

Now ladies and gentlemen, this old horse,

He"s fat behind, he"s fat before, he"s fat inside,

He"s fat all over, except his tail, and that would be rare stuff,

for making these farm lads suet puddings!

Stand up, Dick!

First Driver:

Ladies and gentlemen,

Behold this horse has only three legs

And for his living he is forced to beg,

And what he begs is very small

But that is obliged toserve us all.

Stand up, Dick!

All:

So now we conclude and finish we must,

Put your hand in you pocket and pull your pruse,

Put your hand in you pocket and see if all"s right.

If you give naught we take naught,

Farewell and good night.

Finish

Song:

Chorus:

There"s one or two or three good hearty lads

And we"re all in a row,

This night we come a souling

We hope you"ll enjoy,

For we come no more a souling

Till this time next year.

Verse:

Go down in your celler and see what you"ll find,

Brandy and whiskey and all sorts of wine.

for we come no more a souling till the time next year.

Put you hand in your pocket and see what you"ll find,

Halfpennies and pennies and all sorts of coin

If you give nothing we"ll take nothing, for "tis soul caking time.

(repeat chorus)

Now for Yule the Celtic mid-winter celebration, December 21-22.  Its play, is the classic "Mummers" play, "Saint George and the Dragon".   The usual cast of characters were with some local variations; Father Christmas, Room, King of Egypt, St. George, St. Patrick, Caption Bluster, Gracious King, General Valentine, Coloned Spring, Doctor and Bet or Dame Dorothy, Jan, Tommy, the Dragon and the pony or Hobby horse.  With this play we have another Morris dance to remind the viewers who still knew that the conflict between the sons of the Goddess (the old and new year) for dominance and the right to be her lover was eternal and neither will hold the power to rule for long.  The concept of mother/sister taking a son for a lover/husband, seams to be a troubling concept to the patriarchal mind.  The Lady or Maid Marion or Dame Bet etc. is, of course, the Great Goddess of the Celts in one of her three forms.

It appears that the companies of performers were made up totally of men.  There are two distinct parts of each company that never mixed except in performance.  Actors do not become dancers or vis a versa.  Each part of the play was part of an oral tradition handed down from fathers to sons, grandfathers to grandsons, uncles to nephews etc., not only for the spoken parts but for the dancers as well.  I feel that many of the mummers troops were formed at one time like the  "secret societies" in the American Indian traditions who came together for the purpose of rehearsing and then at the appropriate time performing the dances and plays for the communities" well being.

The staging for these productions was nothing more then the ground before each home or at the crossing of two roads.  The play itself was done in the round, and performed all during the day.  It was not until the twentieth century that the plays were staged in a more conventual form in a modern theatre with sets, costumes, lights, etc..  The costumes were about the same from village to village.  For example, Father Christmas was always a hunch back who carried a big club:, Little Devil Dout was in black face; the "ose (Hose), was made up of a horse"s skull with the jaws wired in such a way that they could be snapped together, all affixed to a pole with a drapery on it from its neck to hide its operator.  Properties for the use of the actors had to be light and easy to carry by the one person who was to use it.

The music is normally provided for with the pipe and tabor, a small hand drum. or other small portable instruments, as well as voices.  Some of the tunes are traditional ones used only in these shows and other fall under the category of what is now called Flik song where the tune has been filched from another source for this purpose.  The song in the plough play that is sung during the "Quemte" or when the actors passed the hat, "We are not London actors that act upon the stage," goes somewhat to the tune of "Here we Come a Caroling".

Selected Bibliography.

Alford, Violet  .The Singing of the Travels: In Search of Dance and Drama. London: Max Parrish, 1956.

---  .Sword Dance and Drama.  London: Merlin Press, 1962.

---  .The Hobby Horse and Other Animal Masks. London: Merlin Press 1978.

Barley, M. W.  "Plough Play in the East Midlands" Journal of the English Folk Dance and Song Society 28 (1953) : 68-94.

Baskerville, Charles Read  "Mummers and Wooing Plays in England" Modern Philology XXI (1924) : 225-275.

Bede: A History of the English Church and People, Tr. Leo Sherley-Price (Harmondsworth, 1955).

Briscoe, Marianne G. and John C. Coldeway Eds.  .Contexts for Early English Drama. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1989.

Chambers, Edmund Kerchever  .The Medieval Stage. Vol 1. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1903.

---  .English Folk Play. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1923.

Dawkins, Richard M. "A visit to Skyros" Annual of the British School at Athens XI (1904) : 72-80.

---  "The Modern Carnival in Thrace and the Cult of Dionysus" Journal of Hellenic Studies XXVI (1906) : 191-206.

Dömiör, Tekla "The Mummers of Mohacs, Ethnic or Local Identity" Journal of Folklore Research 21 (1984) : 2+ .

Henney, Michael.  "Hawthorns and May-games, Mummers and Morris" Folklore 100.2(1989) : 248-249.

Johnston, Alexandra F. "What if no Texts survived? External evidence for Early English Drama" Ed. Marianne G. Briscoe and John C. Coldeway Contexts for Early English Drama Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1989, 1-19.

Jones, Marion "The Earliest secular Drama; Mirth and Solace" Ed. Lois, Potter, The Revels History of Drama in English Vol 1 London and New York: Methuen, 1983, 225-146.

Kennedy, Douglas Neil  "Sword Dance and Mummers Plays"  Journal of the English Folk Dance and Song Society 4 (1930) : 27-38.

---  .England"s Dances: Folk Dancing Today and Yesterday. London: George Bell and Sons, 1949.

Kennedy, Peter.  "The Symondsbury Mumming Play"  Journal of the English Folk Dance and Song Society  27 (1952) : 1-12.

Kirby, E. T.  "The Origin of the Mummers Play"  Journal of American Folklore 84 (1971) : 275-288.

Lawson John Cuthbert "A Beast Dance in Skyros" Annual of the British School at Athens VI (1899-1900) : 125-127.

---  .Modern Greek Folklore and Ancient Greek Religion: A Study in Survivals. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1910.

Mills, David "Drama and Folk Ritual" Ed. Lois, Potter, The Revels History of Drama in English Vol 1 London and New York: Methuen, 1983, 122-151.

Morgan, Gareth "Mummers and Momoeri: Etymological Evidence for Transmission of Mummers Plays from Greece to England via Flanders" Folklore 100.1 (1989) : 84-87.

Myres, M. W.  "The Frodsham Soul-Caking play" Folklore 43 (1932) : 97-104.

Ordish, Thomas  Fairman  "English Folk Drama, I" Folklore  2 (1903) : 314-335.

---  "English Folk Drama, II" Folklore  4 (1905) : 149-175.

---  "English Folk Drama" Folklore Journal  7(1908) : 331-356.

Potter, Lois Ed. The Revels History of Drama in English Vol 1, Medieval Drama, London and New York: Methuen, 1983.

Rohberger, Mary and Dorthy H. Petty  "The English Folk Hero and Elizabethan Tragedy" Journal of Popular Culture 9.3 (1975) : 629-637.

Russell, William  "Precursors of Mummers in Ancient Sparta" Folklore 100.2 (1989)2: 247-248.

Sarti, Roland  "Folk Drama and the Secularization of Rural Culture in the Italian Appenniens" Journal of Social History 14.3 (1981) : 465-480.

Sharp, Cecil J.  .The Sword Dances of Northern England. London: Novello, 1913.

---  .and Herbert C. MacLiwaine  .The Morris Book. London: Novello, 1912-1924.

Tiddy, Reginald John Elliot .The Mummers Play.  Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1923.

Wace, Alan John Bayard "North Greek Festivals and the Worship if Dionysus"  Annual of the British School at Athens XVI (1909-10) : 232-253.

---  "Mumming Plays in the south Balkins"  Annual of the British School at Athens XIX (1912-13) : 248-265.

Wickham, Glynne  .The Medieval Theater. 3ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987.

Williams, Arnold  .The Drama of Medieval England.  Anne Arbor: Michigan State University Press, 1963.