This study describes the Pace Egg tradition in a Lancashire industrial town where chapbooks and other printed texts have been used by almost every known Pace Egg team from the turn of the century to the present day.
Discussion is made of the way in which the tradition has altered over the years, and the part that the printed texts have played in this change.
Examination is made of two distinct traditions. Firstly, Pace Egg plays as performed in the streets by children in Rochdale from early in this century up to the Second World War. This includes an examination of the Edwards and Bryning chapbook, and of the fact that very few references to the plays occur before 1900.
Secondly, the Pace Egg plays as organised by schools and other institutions up to the present day are described. This section is mainly concerned with the Balderstone School Play and the Priestnall and Mitchell text.
An analysis of the differences between these two distinct types of tradition shows that it is the institutionalisation of the latter which is the distinguishing factor, and not the use of printed texts.
Ultimately, however, despite the fact that there are two types of play and two different printed texts, all of them are of equal importance to the study of traditional drama.