Pre-Elizabethan Drama: Folk Plays

Posted on January 6, 2017 by Regina Jeffers

Folk drama is a remote form of oral literature. The early forms included dancers wearing masks portraying animal and human characters. Eventually, speeches and songs were added. The action and the dramatic imitation became the prominent part of these early performances. Speaking or chanting of sacred texts were learned by both the performers and the audience. These early plays were passed on by word of mouth.

The section known as “Middle English Plays” from Luminarium: Anthology of English Literature tells us, “In England the folk-plays, throughout the Middle Ages and in remote spots down almost to the present time, sometimes took the form of energetic dances (Morris dances, they came to be called, through confusion with Moorish performances of the same general nature).

“Others of them, however, exhibited in the midst of much rough-and-tumble fighting and buffoonery, a slight thread of dramatic action. Their characters gradually came to be a conventional set, partly famous figures of popular tradition, such as St. George, Robin Hood, Maid Marian, and the Green Dragon.

“Other offshoots of the folk-play were the ‘mummings’ and ‘disguisings,’ collective names for many forms of processions, shows, and other entertainments, such as, among the upper classes, that precursor of the Elizabethan Mask in which a group of persons in disguise, invited or uninvited, attended a formal dancing party. In the later part of the Middle Ages, also, there were the secular pageants, spectacular displays (rather different from those of the twentieth century) given on such occasions as when a king or other person of high rank made formal entry into a town. They consisted of an elaborate scenic background set up near the city gate or on the street, with figures from allegorical or traditional history who engaged in some pantomime or declamation, but with very little dramatic dialog, or none.

“But all these forms, though they were not altogether without later influence, were very minor affairs, and the real drama of the Middle Ages grew up, without design and by the mere nature of things, from the regular services of the Church.”

Four varieties of plays that we should note from the Pre-Elizabethan period are the Hock-Tuesday Play, The Sword Dance, The St. George and Mummers’ Plays, a development of the Sword Dance, and The Robin Hood Play.

Some historians say The Hock-Tuesday Play finds its basis in the defeat of the Danes by the English under Huna on 13 November 1002. Others believe it originates from a remote folk observance: taking a victim by force to serve as a sacrifice. “Hocktide – the Mondy and Tuesday after the second Sunday after Easter – has parallel customs in other parts of the country in which women ‘hocked’ the men (caught and bound them with ropes, or vice versa, or stranger or natives were whipped or ‘heaved.'” Together with Whitsuntide and the twelve days of Yuletide the week following Easter marked the only vacations of the husbandman’s year, during slack times in the cycle of the year when the villein ceased work on his lord’s demesne, and most likely on his own land as well.

The Hock-Tuesday Play centered around the struggle between the Danish and the English knights, who enter the scenes on horseback and armed with alder poles. Afterward, foot soldiers for both sides executed drills and then staged a fight scene. The English, as history proves, win the battle.

The Sword Dance celebrated the summer driving away winter and death. If chief personages are the fool, dressed in animal skins and “Bessy,” a man dressed in women’s clothing. Rhymed speeches introduce the characters. More elaborate forms of The Sword Dance developed in which the “Seven Champions of Christendom” are introduced. These were likely religious interpolations of earlier national heroes. In some versions, one of the sword dancers is surrounded and killed by the other dancers. In other versions, the dancers simply surround him. These early dances developed into the Saint George Plays, in which invariably the central incident is the death and restoration of one of the characters, a survival again, of the pagan celebration of the death and restoration of the year.

Encyclopedia Britannica says “Sword dance, folk dance by men, with swords or swordlike objects, displaying themes such as human and animal sacrifice for fertility, battle mime, and defense against evil spirits. There are several types. In linked-sword, or hilt-and-point, dances, each performer holds the hilt of his own sword and the point of that of the dancer behind him, the group forming intricate, usually circular, patterns. Combat dances for one or more performers emphasize battle mime and originally served as military training. Crossed-sword dances are performed over two swords or a sword and scabbard crossed on the ground. Finally, guerrilla dances in circular formation are often performed with swords.

Sword Dance of the Cutter’s Guild, coloured pen drawing by an unknown …

Courtesy of the Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nurnberg (via Encyclopedia Britannica)

Hilt-and-point dances are widely distributed through Europe—e.g., in northern England, Basque territory, and Spain. They are often performed as part of a folk play. The plays are closely related to the English mummers plays and parallel the Greek folk play in Thrace. In the dance the swords are interlocked at one point, forming a ‘rose,’ or ‘lock,’ that is held aloft and placed around the neck of a performer in mock decapitation. Often the ‘beheaded’ falls ‘dead,’ to be revived by a ‘doctor, a’ fool, a man-woman, or other subsidiary character. The roots of these dances are in ancient vegetation rites of death and renewal, possibly in sacrifice of a leader to ensure fertility. Even today they are believed to bring luck or well-being.”

A simply variation of the above motif is The Mummers’ Play. It includes a lots of dancing, as well as the image of a character killed and restored. The major difference between The Mummers’ Play and The Sword Dance is the introduction of subsidiary characters in the latter part of The Mummers’ Play. This involved the taking of a collection and the appearance of a Turkish champion, or Blustering Giant, or a Dragon that slays the Christian hero, but who is eventually poisoned by a pill presented him by the doctor who has been engaged to attend the injured Christian hero.

http://www.fromoldbooks.org 1143.—Mummers (Bodleian MS.)details

“Notwithstanding his important role in ballads and prose fiction, Robin Hood would have been best known in communities throughout fifteenth- and sixteenth-century Britain as the subject of a wide range of theatrical and quasi-theatrical entertainments. Most took the form of ceremonial games, dances, pageants, processions, and other mimetic events of popular culture of which we only get a fleeting glimpse in surviving civic and ecclesiastical records. Revels featuring the legendary outlaw appear to have surged in growth towards the close of the fifteenth century and remained popular from the royal court to the rural village green throughout the following century (Lancashire, p. xxvi). Indeed, it is not exaggerating to say that Robin Hood plays and games were the most popular form of secular dramatic entertainment in provincial England for most of the sixteenth century (for records of performance, see Lancashire, index under “Robin Hood”). This is generally unrecognized by both literary and theatrical historians, many of whom assume that the Tudor Reformation quickly put an end to such popular pastimes — it did not (White, p. 163). But there are other reasons for overlooking Robin Hood spectacles: few Robin Hood play scripts survive (folk plays were rarely written down and published) and only in the past few years have archivists and provincial historians (many working on the Records of Early English Drama project) begun to document in a systematic way records of theatrical entertainment in early modern England.

“Although the first record of a Robin Hood play is from Exeter in 1426-27 (Lancashire, p. 134), the earliest extant play text, a twenty-one line dramatic fragment from East Anglia known as Robyn Hod and the Shryff off Notyngham, is dated half-a-century later. The text is written on one side of a single sheet of paper, now housed in Trinity College Library, Cambridge; the other side of the page, in a hand thought to be from the same period, contains accounts of money received by one John Sterndalle in 1475-76 (Dobson and Taylor, p. 203). Scholars connect the manuscript to Sir John Paston, who, in a letter of April 1473, complains that his horse-keeper W. Wood has “goon into Bernysdale” (i.e., left his service). Paston further remarks that “I have kepyd hym thys iij. yer to pleye Seynt Jorge and Robyn Hod and the Shryff off Notyngham” (Gairdner, p. 185). It would appear, therefore, that this script is of a Robin Hood play sponsored by the household of this well-to-do Norwich gentleman and performed by his servants in the early 1470s.” [Knight, Stephen, and Thomas H. Ohlgren, Editors. Robyn Hod and the Shryff off Notyngham: Introduction. Robin Hood and Other Outlaw Tales, 1997. University of Rochester. Middle English Texts Series. http://d.lib.rochester.edu/teams/text/robyn-hod-and-the-shryff-off-notyngham-introduction]

During May Day celebrations, The Robin Hood Plays were performed. Robin Hood is the fictional character we recall as “robbing the rich and giving to the poor.” In France, however, he was a shepherd and Maid Marian was his mistress. Some experts believe Robin Hood is a more modern version of the God Wooden. In the play cycles, he is the “king” of May, who fights with Friar Tuck and other assorted characters. Dancers often accompany the “battle scenes.” The plays were performed upon the village green. These plays represent an increasing preference for a national hero during 16th Century England, a spirit of nationalism that grew during the Elizabethan period.

Other Resources:

“Hocktide”

“Folk Literature”

Folk Play Research Home Page

Parks, Edd Winfield, and Richmond Croom Beatty. The English Drama. W. W. Norton, 1963, pp. 5-6.

Preston, Michael J. The Robin Hood Folk Plays of South Central England. Comparative Drama. Vol. 10, No. 2 (Summer 1976), pp. 91-100.

Posted in British history, drama, Great Britain, medieval, religion, theatre | Tagged British history, drama, folk plays, medieval, pre-Elizabethan, The Hock-Tuesday Play, The Mummers' Play, The Robin Hood Play, The Sword Dance, theatre | 6 Comments

When in “Pride and Prejudice” Does Darcy Accept His Love for Elizabeth?

Posted on January 5, 2017 by Regina Jeffers

When Fitzwilliam Darcy first encounters Elizabeth Bennet at the Meryton assembly, he tells Bingley, “At such an assembly as this, it [dancing] would be insupportable? Your sisters are engaged, and there is not another woman in the room whom it would not be a punishment to me to stand up with.” To which Bingley argues the merits of the women attending the assembly. When his friend points out Elizabeth “sitting down behind you,” Darcy replies, “She is tolerable, but not handsome enough to tempt me; and I am in no humor at person to give consequence to young ladies who are slighted by other men. You had better return to your partner and enjoy her smiles, for you are wasting your time with me.”

Near the end of the book, Elizabeth asks Darcy, “…when you had once made a beginning; but what could set you off in the first place?” To which, Darcy replies, “I cannot fix on the hour, or the spot, or the look, or the words, which laid the foundation. It is too long ago. I was in the middle before I knew what I had begun.”

Now, the romantic in most of us likes to believe in “love at first sight.” We cling to Austen’s phrases to prove Darcy experienced this great phenomenon. Austen tells us, “…and turning round he looked for a moment at Elizabeth, till, catching her eye, he withdrew his own, and coldly said…” To those of us who love the idea of Darcy’s falling in love with Elizabeth across a crowded room, we cling to the idea that he must force himself to look away from her. Does he wish Elizabeth Bennet’s attentions? Does he wonder of the impression she has of him?

After the assembly, Elizabeth tells Charlotte in speaking of Darcy, “I could easily forgive his pride if he had not mortified mine.” Was this a “defense mechanism” on Elizabeth’s part? At the evening at Lucas Lodge, we learn, Occupied in observing Mr. Bingley’s attentions to her sister, Elizabeth was far from suspecting that she was herself becoming an object of some interest in the eyes of his friend. Mr. Darcy had at first scarcely allowed her to be pretty; he had looked at her without admiration at the ball; and when they next met, he looked at her only to criticize. But no sooner had he made it clear to himself and his friends that she had hardly a good feature in her face, than he began to find it was rendered uncommonly intelligent by the beautiful expression of her dark eyes….

Even though Darcy attempts to keep his new obsession under control, he takes great pleasure in eavesdropping on Elizabeth’s various conversation. “He began to wish to know more of her; and as a step toward conversing with her himself, attended to her conversations with others. His doing so drew her notice.” Is he in love at this point? Likely not. But Darcy has met a woman who does not feign a regard for him and his wealth, and he finds that enticing – at the very least, Elizabeth’s actions were from the ordinary. When the others in attendance at Sir William’s entertainment decide to dance, “Mr. Darcy stood near them in silent indignation at such a mode to passing the evening, to the exclusion of all conversation….”

Sir William attempts to force their hands and have them dance. “Mr. Darcy with grave propriety, requested to be allowed the honor of her hand, but in vain.” After her refusal, Elizabeth looked archly, and turned away. Even so, Darcy finds himself admitting, “I have been meditating on the very great pleasure which a pair of fine eyes in the face of a pretty woman can bestow.”

Darcy defends Elizabeth against the Bingley sisters’ remarks, but he agrees with their evaluation of the Bennets’ connections. “But it must very materially lessen their chance of marrying men of any consideration in the world.” Has he begun to think of Elizabeth as his future wife? Has Darcy had the argument with himself regarding her connections? As the days at Netherfield pass, Darcy continues to assess Elizabeth’s finer qualities: “…and to all this she must yet add something more substantial in the improvement of her mind by extensive reading.” After Mrs. Bennet’s attendance upon Jane at Netherfield, ...leaving her own and her relations’ behavior to the remarks of the two ladies and Mr. Darcy; the latter of whom, however, could not be prevailed on to join in their censure of her….

When she defends Mr. Bingley over him, Mr. Darcy smiled, but Elizabeth thought she could perceive that he was rather offended, and therefore checked her laugh. Darcy takes umbrage when the Bingley sisters purposefully cuts Elizabeth from their walk in the gardens. Then, taking the disengaged arm of Mr. Darcy, she [Mrs. Hurst] left Elizabeth to walk by herself. The path just admitted three. Mr. Darcy felt their rudeness….

We know something of his developing affections after Elizabeth takes him to task for suggesting she might like to dance a reel. Elizabeth, having rather expected to affront him, was amazed at his gallantry; but there was a mixture of sweetness and archness in her manner which made it difficult for her to affront anybody; and Darcy had never been so bewitched by any woman as he was by her. He really believed that, were it not for the inferiority of her connections, he should be in some danger.

Darcy begins to enjoy their verbal swordplay, but he also begins to feel the danger of paying Elizabeth too much attention. When Elizabeth and Jane prepare to leave Netherfield, we learn, In Mr. Darcy it was welcome intelligence Elizabeth had been at Netherfield long enough. She attracted him more than he liked, and Miss Bingley was uncivil to her and more teasing than usual to himself. He wisely resolved to be particularly careful that no sign of admiration should now escape him – nothing that could elevate her with the hope of influencing his felicity; sensible that, if such an idea had been suggested, his behavior during the last day must have material weight in confirming or crushing it. Steady to his purpose, he scarcely spoke ten words to her through the whole of Saturday; and though they were at one time left by themselves for half an hour, he adhered most conscientiously to his book, and would not even look at her.

So when in Pride and Prejudice do you believe Darcy accepts that he loves Elizabeth? One of the examples above? In truth, for me, it is a scene at Rosings Park. I love how this particular scene progresses in both the 1995 and the 2005 film adaptation of the novel. It is the scene when Elizabeth is playing the pianoforte. Darcy smiled and said, “You are perfectly right. You have employed your time much better. No one admitted to the privilege of hearing your can think anything wanting. We neither of us us perform to strangers.” To me, he is saying “I have had the argument with myself and I find nothing wanting in you,” and he says “we,” not “I.” They are both from step with strangers, but they are not strangers to each other. They are one soul in two bodies.

Posted in dancing, Jane Austen, Living in the Regency, Pride and Prejudice, quotes, romance | Tagged Elizabeth Bennet, Fitzwilliam Darcy, Jane Austen, love, Pride and Prejudice, quotes | 11 Comments

On Ilkla Moor Baht ‘at, Yorkshire Unofficial Anthem

Posted on January 4, 2017 by Regina Jeffers

The traditional English folk song, ‘On Ilkla Moor Baht ‘at,’comes from the County of Yorkshire, and it is written in Yorkshire dialect. In The Yorkshire Dictionary (Arnold Kellett, 2002) says the dialect used in the song is representative of the area surrounding Halifax. In 1998, Dr. Arnold Kellett in On Ilkla Mooar baht ‘at: the story of the song [Smith Settle. p. 55.], says, “We can at least clear the ground by looking at the most widely accepted tradition that On Ilkla Mooar came into being as a result of an incident that took place during a ramble and picnic on the moor. It is further generally believed that the ramblers were all on a chapel choir outing, from one of the towns in the industrial West Riding.”

The moor is in Yorkshire near Leeds and Bradford (and not anywhere near Hull). Ilkley Moor is part of a larger region of moorlands known as Rombalds Moor. Rombalds Moor was the home of Giant Rombald, who used to throw large stones across the moor. Some of these landed at the edge of Ilkley Moor and later became a well known landmark and a popular picnic spot for residents of Bradford and Leeds, who could travel by train to Ilkley, and then hike up the hill to the moor.

The first published version of the words appeared in 1916, when it was described as “a dialect song which, for at least two generations past, has been sung in all parts of the West Riding of Yorkshire.” [Kellett, page 83] Arnold Kellett calculates that the song “could well have originated in the early years of the second half of the [19th] century, and not as late as 1877 …”[page 89]

The title roughly translates into standard English as ‘On Ilkley Moor Without a Hat.’ Anyone who ever read Bronte’s Wuthering Heights knows something of moors. I set The Disappearance of Georgiana Darcy on a Scottish moor because moors are often windy and cold expanse of land that is near to being a wilderness As the song proves, a person needs a hat in the winter, and going to a moor without one is a bad idea. Ilkley is a town in Yorkshire, quite close to the cities of Leeds and Bradford, and Ilkley Moor is close by. The song tells of a lover courting the object of his affections, Mary Jane. It serves as a dire warning about what happens to those foolish enough to venture to the the moor without appropriate headwear: they die, are buried, are eaten by worms which are then eaten by ducks, which are then eaten by the songs’ singers. The song has more or less become the unofficial ‘national’ anthem of Yorkshire.

According to tradition, the words were composed by members of a Halifax church choir on an outing to Ilkley Moor near Ilkley, West Yorkshire. According to Ilkley.org, “In 1805 a hymn tune called ‘Cranbrook’ was composed by a cobbler of Canterbury. His name was Thomas Clark. A hundred years later it was still being sung in Wesleyan Chapels to the words ‘O for a thousand tongues’ and at Christmas time to ‘While Shepherds watched their flocks by night.’ According to tradition, the members of a Halifax Wesleyan Church were picnicking beneath the Cow and Calf rocks, after their annual walk across the moors from Dick Hudson’s, when two of their party disappeared into the bracken. On their return to the main group, a member of the choir bellowed out ‘Wheer wor ta bahn when ah saw thee?’ ‘Tha’s bin a-courtin’ Mary Jane,’ commented another. Further lines in common metre were contributed until the choir burst naturally into the tune to ‘Cranbrook.'” On Ilkla Moor Baht ‘At was first published in 1916 and probably originated in West Yorkshire during the latter half of the 19th Century.

According to tradition, the members of a Halifax Wesleyan [Methodist] Church were picnicking beneath the Cow and Calf rocks, after their annual walk across the moors from Dick Hudson’s, when two of their party disappeared into the bracken. On their return to the main group, a member of the choir bellowed out “Wheer wor ta bahn when ah saw thee?” “Tha’s bin a-courtin’ Mary Jane”, commented another. Further lines in common metre were contributed until the choir burst naturally into the tune Cranbrook.

The lyrics include many features of the Yorkshire dialect such as Definite article reduction and H-dropping. Baht is Yorkshire dialect for “without.” [Yorkshire Dialect Society, September 2013] According to “While Shepherds Watched

Some singers add the responses “without thy trousers on” after the fourth line of each verse, and “where the ducks play football” after the seventh. Other variations include “where the nuns play rugby”, “where the sheep fly backwards”, “where the ducks fly backwards”, “where the ducks wear trousers”, “an’ they’ve all got spots”, and “where they’ve all got clogs on”.

Also in some recitals, after the first two lines of “On Ilkla Mooar baht ‘at” it is followed by a “Where’s that?”. Another variant adds “Howzat?” after the first line and “Not out!” after the second. In Leeds the line immediately before the chorus is often ended with “And we all got wet”. In the United States, “Then we will go and eat up the ducks” is often followed by a shouted “Up the Ducks!”

There are also alternative endings, where verse nine states: “There is a moral to this tale”, and is followed by a chorus of “Don’t go without your hat / Don’t go without your hat / On Ilkey moor baht ‘at” (which is sung commonly within West Yorkshire), or “Don’t go a courtin’ Mary Jane” (another variation known in the Scouting movement). Alternatively, verse nine is sung as “There is a moral to this tale”, and verse ten as “When courtin’ always wear a hat”.

Ilkley Moor via Wikipedia

Yorkshire Day was created in 1975 by the Yorkshire Ridings Society after the abolition of the three traditional “ridings” in the local government reorganisation of 1974. Roger Sewell, chairman of the Yorkshire Ridings Society, said pride in being from Yorkshire was an “instinctive thing” to those born in the area. Each year members of the society read a declaration at four of the Bars, or gates, into York. Towns and cities across Yorkshire hold their own celebrations and a regional one is being held over four days in Skipton in North Yorkshire. The Yorkshire Flag, a white rose on a blue background, will be flown across the region.

Check out this You Tube version of the song with Jack Kennedy, Jongo Kerr, Lesley Garrett, Alistair Griffin, and Brian Blessed. It even includes a rap…

Resources:

Lyrics

Wheear ‘as ta bin sin ah saw thee,
On Ilkla Moor baht ‘at?!
Wheear ‘as ta bin sin ah saw thee?
Wheear ‘as ta bin sin ah saw thee?

On Ilkla Moor baht ‘at?!
On Ilkla Moor baht ‘at?!

Tha’s been a cooartin’ Mary Jane
On Ilkla Moor baht ‘at
Tha’s been a cooartin’ Mary Jane
Tha’s been a cooartin’ Mary Jane