Folk Play Links - Modern Compositions & Adaptations

Compiled by Chris Little

Some people write their own Mummers' play, sometimes incorporating traditional lines, but often completely new.

A conference paper at http://freespace.virgin.net/peter.millington1/Modern/index.htm discusses the implications of modern compositions.

Artwork

001 - "Natives in a Mystic State" by Sean Hillen [Photomontage including an old photo of the Overton Mummers, Hampshire]
002 - Optimism's Flames [Interview with Andy Partridge of XTC regarding their album 'Mummer', including an illustrated discussion of costumes and costume making.]

Performance

003 - "Scrooge Meets the Mummers" Compiled, Adapted & Written by Janet Michael [Credits for performances at the Sagebrush Theatre, 28 Nov - 7 Dec 2002]
004 - A Dream of Revels [Description of Revels at Harvard University, organised by John Langstaff's Revels Inc., which includes elements of mummers' plays.]
005 - Cross and Country' Event [School performance, including lengthy footnotes on photos of the Boxgrove mummers in the 1930s.]
006 - David and Lori's Wedding Web Page: The Reception: Cast of the Mummers' Play [Photo of the Wedding Mummers Play performed for David Cohen & Lori Fassman]
007 - Mummer Play [Photos of the mummers play at the handfasting of Vicka Rael Corey and Daniel James Barkalow, 2000]
008 - Oh no... it's a mummer's play! [Photo of the mummers play at the handfasting of Tom and Amy]
009 - The Sights Before Christmas [Description of play written and performed by Beni Malone, with classic English folk play characters.Produced by Wonderbolt Productions]
010 - Understanding Bliss [Film]

Playwrights

011 - School Projects - compositions composed by Brendan Beales for primary school children [The list includes "Mummers` Play - folk music and drama project"]
012 - Tom Cullívan [Breffny Ballet incorporates a traditional mummers play]
013 - Wingit Productions [Script for sale: St. George and the Dragon]
014 - Story John! [Script for sale: St. George's Play ]
015 - Stories [sic] of the Songs for Christmas [1997 - comprises "12 one-act dramatiziations of how our favorite Christmas songs were composed".]
016 - There's a Dragon About: A Winter's Revel [Book for sale:]
017 - There's a Dragon About: A Winter's Revel

Poems

018 - Emigrant's Farewell, by Jack McKeown
019 - Mummering in Christmas, by Bill Sullivan [Listed as "Mummering in Trinity" (Newfoundland) in the contents page]
020 - Sussex Ancestors, by Bob Copper

Puppets

021 - Black Lantern Puppet Troupe [photos]
022 - Clay and Paper Theatre [photo]
023 - Hobgoblin Hill [photos]
024 - Mister Peter's Puppets [photos]
025 - Tuckers' Tales Puppet Theatre [photo]

Scripts

026 - Saint George's Day Mummers' Play
027 - Thakeham Mummers Play [Script of a play covering local scandals and events]
028 - New Brunswick Mummer's Play [photo]
029 - A Mummer's Play [A Klez Act : Story and Dance for a New Jewish Tradition - written by Jacob Bloom]
030 - Saint George W. Mummers Play
031 - Clerical Error [unofficial - photos; scripts]
032 - A Pagan Mummers' Play [1997]
033 - Wedding Mummers Plays in the Cambridge-Somerville Tradition [Includes the scripts of 12 plays composed in the Mummers' play idiom for different weddings. Collected by Lenore J.Cowen]
034 - Þrimskviða Mummer’s Play [A theatrical rendition of the Þrymskviða (found in the Poetic Edda) set in a pseudo Mummer style.]
035 - May Day Mumming [Script for Bassett Street Hounds]
036 - The Queen of Winternet [May Day Mumming Play 1995 - Archived]
037 - The Queen of Winternet [Photos of Burlington High School Drama's performance of Susan Galbraith's composed play.]
038 - The True Account of Brave St George and the Frightful Dragon [photo]
039 - The annotated Griffin Road Mumming Play [Text adapted from traditional sources by Rich Holmes, Dec 2002]
040 - The Play of John Barleycorn
041 - A Fitzmas Mummer'S Play [A political parody featuring US President George W.Bush and Patrick Fitzgerald]
042 - ISN News: The Zocalo Today [Snippet of a play suggested for fans of Babylon 5. Date: Thu, 21 Dec 2000 10:12:04 PM EST]
043 - Apocryphal Scenes from St. Nobian's: A Story set Where Yamara Has To Live, by S. John Ross [Dialogue set within the context of a story]
044 - There's a Dragon About [Performed by The New School, Newark, Delaware Christmas Revels, 1998]
045 - St. Jeremy and the Rhinos of Princess Bride [For the wedding of Jeremy Kessler and Angela Kovatch, June 15, 2003, Cambridge Multicultural Arts Center]
046 - Mummer's Play for the Eclipse, Hurlers 1999 [photos]
047 - Prize Old Mummers
048 - A Christmas Chantycle
049 - In Honour of the Season: The Shortest Known Mummer's Play [A 9-line (yet complete) play for finger puppets by "rutemple"]
050 - The Martyrdom of St Edmund [A new script, written by Marilyn Clarke, John Proffitt and Steve Clarke of Stour Valley Mummers, Suffolk, England]
051 - Thunder and the Dragon: A Heathen Mummers Play [in Thunder, Iss.15, Summer 2000]
052 - Mid Summer Play [Script with photo from "Varg's Page"]
053 - A Robin Hood Play [Text and photo of a mumming-style verse drama written for Banbury Hobby Horse Festival]
054 - Mummers Play [Copy of play at http://home.earthlink.net/~lavrans/mummersw.html]
055 - Worth Gardeners' Society Christmas Entertainment [photo]
056 - George and the Dragon [Text written by the Youth Fellowship and performed in Market Drayton 1998 (There's a Dragon but no George!)]
057 - This is a Play about the City of Somewhere ["A Street drama with a mummers play feel to it." from the Youth Fellowship]
058 - Eyam [Passing reference to Derby Tup play in dramatisation of the story of the Eyam plague village]
059 - The Neo-Mumming Plays of Syracuse [by Christine Gaca, in American Morris Newsletter, Vol.14 No.1, Mar./Apr. 1990, pp.21-23]New

Songs

060 - Greatham Sword Dance, by George Unthank
061 - Modern Pace Egging, by Linda Demissy [Words of a pagan parody of the introductory song from a Pace Egging play]
062 - Oxford Mummers, by Howard Haigh [Description of a choral work based on an uspecified real mummers' play]
063 - Rise Up Jock, by Bob Pegg [Recorded by Nowell Sing we Clear]

Toy Theatre

064 - Thimble Theatre [Toy theatre performances - including St. George and the Dragon]
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The recommended URL for this web page is www.folkplay.info/Links/Modern.htm
© 2000-2008, TDRG. Contact: Chris Little, Last updated: 24/04/2008