Mumming Play, English folk-play which first emerges in the 18th century, and certainly in the 1930s could still be seen in remote villages in England, particularly in the Cotswolds, at Christmas. It is essentially a dramatization of the death of winter and the springtime revival of the earth. It was traditionally played by men only, dressed in rags or shredded paper, and the texts were transmitted orally. The players met in secret to rehearse and for the performance blacked their faces with soot; there may be here a connection with the morris dancers. The size of the company varied considerably, but essentially consisted of Father Christmas, the Turkish Knight, sometimes known as the Bold Smasher, and St (sometimes King) George. There is plenty of scope for the introduction of secondary characters. The play opens with Father Christmas with his broom clearing a space in a room or hall for the entry of his fellow players. He is followed by St George, who boasts of his mighty deeds and challenges anyone to take up arms against him. The Turkish Knight advances and the two men fight. The Turkish Knight is killed, and Father Christmas, declaring that the dead man is his son, turns into the Doctor, and eventually, by magic spells and a good deal of mumbo-jumbo, brings the Knight to life again. The character of the Doctor, accompanied by his faithful servant Jack Finney or Johnny Jack, modelled on the quack doctor of many itinerant groups, seems also to indicate some influence from the
commedia dell'arte. Most of the
slapstick comedy of the mumming play is concentrated in this scene, as the Doctor abuses his servant, boasts of the wonderful cures he has been responsible for, and finally returns the Turkish Knight to life. (In some versions it is St George who is slain and returned to life, thus offering occasion for another battle.) The play then ends with a procession introducing several new characters, who may or may not indulge in byplay of their own—Beelzebub, the Bessie (a man dressed as a woman), even historical characters such as Charlemagne or Oliver Cromwell. The ceremony ends with a collection, taken up by Father Christmas, or by Little Devil Dout, who with his broom sweeps everyone out of the room—his name being a corruption of ‘Do Out!’
There are vestiges of two other mumming plays, which in general resemble the one detailed above. The Sword Play, which includes a complicated sword dance, and The Wooing Ceremony, in which the Lady (played by a man) sees her accepted wooer killed by rival suitors and then brought back to life. The actors in the mumming play were sometimes known as Guizards or Guisers, from their disguise.
