Traditional Drama 1983
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The Folk Play and Analogues: Performance and Charity in Chipping Campden
Abstract:This paper presents an examination of the roots of the Folk Play's tradition in the pub, in the school, in publish places, using local sources of information. Furthermore it presents a study of its 'origins', beginning with the question: Why don't we have it in the United States of America?
Paper available? - This was probably based on his Thesis, but may stand alone. -
Mummers in West Berkshire 1890-1920
Abstract:This paper presents a summary of present knowledge: with a definition of geographical and physical boundaries of the area under scrutiny. It also includes a comment on the period (as indicated above); an examination of 'texts' and action; of the people involved; their practice and routine and what happened to the Mummers.
Checked with author. No typescript. -
The Midgley Pace Egg Play. (Video)
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Thomas Hardy's 'Play of St George'
Abstract:Thomas Hardy's novel The Return of the Native (1878) includes a description of a mummers' play, together with some dialogue. When the novel was dramatised, in 1920, Hardy supplied a complete text of the play.
Cawte, Helm and Peacock, in English Ritual Drama (1967) suggested that a traditional play from Higher Bockhampton, near Dorchester, was the source for the play described in The Return of the Native. However, Preston, in Southern Folklore Quarterly (1977), subjected the complete text to computer analysis and concluded that "Hardy's play is not traditional in any strict sense of the term".
Consideration of Hardy's biographical details and comparison of his text with other Dorset plays suggest that the play's source should be relocated and that Preston's conclusions should be modified. The issues raised may be seen as extending beyond the question of Hardy's reliability as a folklore source to the emphasis placed by researchers upon textual studies to the exclusion of other aspects of traditional drama.
Published paper title:Thomas Hardy's "Play of St. George"Thomas Hardy's "Play of St. George"Lore and Language 1999, Vol.17, No.1-2, pp.257-271 -
No Show Without Punch
Abstract:A reconsideration of the principal nineteenth century texts of 'Punch and Judy', with an attempt to assess the importance of indigenous English influences on the nineteenth century show; an examination of the degree of continuity between the nineteenth century tradition of performance and the show at the present day.
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Annual Report on the work of the Traditional Drama Research Group