“Room, Room, Brave Gallants, ROOM!” is the opening line of your local Mummers Play. Mummers Plays are about the triumph of life over death and good over evil based on the end of one year and birth of a new year. Our local text is based on the Bramshill play & other north Hants texts.
The characters are Father Christmas & his four sons (Hoorah!) who are put to the sword by our anti-hero who, strangely enough, is King George (Boo!). This probably harks back to the unpopular Hanoverian kings. Have no fear; there is a Doctor in the house who will bring all who are killed back to life again, just before the final showdown.
It has been suggested that the four sons represent the points of the compass. Hence:
- Noble Captain – North
- Morroccan King – South
- Turkish Knight – East
- Little Swing-Swang – West
A few years ago, we performed at the Police College in Bramshill, and an elderly member of the staff there could remember the words of the play from the mummers who visited the Cope family at Bramshill House in her childhood.
Mummers, also known as (dis)Guizers, used to mime the plays, hence the phrase ‘mum’s the word’!
You, the audience, are a vital part in this knockabout festive fun. We hope that you will seek out and enjoy this lively performance, which perpetuates a local custom in our area.
We perform our play in between the Morris dancing on Boxing Day and New Year’s Day (see our programme). It has now become traditional (i.e. we’ve done it at least twice) to tour the pubs of Wokingham in the week before Xmas. Sometimes we’ll perform on Twelfth Night (6th January) but that depends on the likelihood of getting a good audience.
We also have a version that we perform around St George’s Day. This time St. George is the hero and the villain is Beelzebub.
If you want to know EVERYTHING about Mummers visit this excellent website
If you’d like to join read Musings of a First Time Mummer
(main image: King George spars with the Noble Captain outside the Cricketers, Hartley Wintney)
YATELEY MORRIS MEN 