News

Welcome to www.folkplay.info

The Folk Play Research Website has acquired a snappy new domain name - www.folkplay.info - which we hope will be easier to remember than our old URL. The old addresses will continue to operate, but would recommend that any webmasters whose sites have hyperlinks to ours should update the URL accordingly.

Publications

John Blair "Bampton Folklore"
Cardiff: Merton Priory Press, 2001. ISBN 1-898937-50-8

Chapter 1, Starting the Ritual Year: Christmas and the Mummers’ Play, deals with the versions of the Bampton play collected by Alfred Williams, Dr. J.A. Giles, Thomas Carter (who collected on behalf of Percy Manning) and P.H. Ditchfield.

Dianne Dugaw, "'Deep Play' John Gay and the Invention of Modernity"
Newark: University of Delaware Press; London: Associated University Presses, 2001. ISBN 0-87413-731-4

In this new book on the eighteenth century writer, a major thesis which Dugaw argues is that Gay was ‘steeped in traditional lore’ and drew on it extensively in his work. In Chapter 5, ‘Village Mumming on an Urban Stage’ Dugaw suggests that The What-d’Ye-Call-It and Three Hours After Marriage drew heavily of the folk play.

Peter T. Millington, "A New Look at English Folk Play Costumes"
http://freespace.virgin.net/peter.millington1/Costumes/Costumes.htm, 2002

This paper was first presented at the Traditional Drama Conference 1985, University of Sheffield, 12 October 1985. This paper reviews the costumes in a European context, looking at types, function and developmental trends. Three main categories are proposed; (1) realistic costumes (2) non-representational costumes, and (3) dancers' uniforms. Costumes have been influenced by the popular professional theatre and the pre-existing customs to which the plays became attached.

Peter Millington, "Plough Monday in and around the City of Nottingham"
http://freespace.virgin.net/peter.millington1/NottinghamPlough/NottinghamPlough1.htm, 2001

This paper was first presented at the Annual Conference of the Folk Life Society, University of Nottingham, Sep.1992, and repeated at the International Conference on Traditional Drama, University of Sheffield, March 1998. It outlines the history of Nottingham's Plough Day Fair, and describes the non-play Plough Monday customs that occurred within the expanding city limits in the 19th and early 20th centuries. It concludes that folk plays were not native to the city, although actors from outlying villages may have occasionally travelled into the city to perform.

Jack Santino "The Hallowed Eve. Dimensions of Culture in a Calendar Festival in Northern Ireland"
Lexington: University of Kentucky Press, 1998. ISBN 0-8131-2081-0

In Chapter2, pages 35-43, draws some parallels between Irish Christmas mumming and similar activities at Halloween.

[Robin Wiltshire] "Repository and Media Guide, Archives of Cultural Tradition"
Sheffield: National Centre for English Cultural Tradition, University of Sheffield, 2001

This is a much needed introductory guide to the archive collections at NATCECT. The descriptions of the material in some collections, those of Dave Bathe and Russell Wortley for example, will be of interest to drama scholars. Copies of the guide are available without charge but please send a stamped (41p) addressed A5 envelope to Robin Wiltshire at NATCECT, University of Sheffield, 9 Shearwood Road, Sheffield, S10 2TN

Renaissance Studies Volume 15, Number 2, 2001. ISSN 0269-1213

This is a special issue with the title ‘Medicine in the Renaissance City’. Guest edited by Professor Vivian Nutton, the issue has articles dealing with Quack Doctors.

Theatre Research International Volume 232, Number 2, 1998. ISSN 0307-8833

A special issue, ‘The Commedia dell’arte’ guest editor, M.A. Katritzky