Writing a Mummers’ Play

1. Writing a Mummers’Play

2. Two Stages: First we will tell you how we came up with the ideas for our Mummers’ Plays. We hope this will give you ideas for your own. You can go straight to slide 14 ‘Write Your Own Mummers’ Play for step by step instructions. Make sure you know about Mummers’ Plays first by looking at ‘What is a Mummers’ Play?’ at: https://folk3d.wordpress.com/educational-resources/

3. How we chose our characters Many of the traditional Mummers’ Plays have St George in them and, as our play is for St George’s Day, we have St George too. In a famous story, St George fought and killed a dragon. It was eating all of the animals and people in a city. We wanted to keep the tradition that a Mummers’ Play has a fight and death and as we didn’t want people fighting, we chose to have a Dragon. Can you remember some of the other characters that are usually in a Mummers’ Play?

4. What next? We thought about local characters who have done something very good for our city. We live in Derby. For one of the plays we chose William Duesbury. In 1750 he became involved in making very special china in Derby. Now this company, Royal Crown Derby, makes china that is sold all over the world. Here is a line from our play: “In comes I, Will Duesbury by name, to Derby pots I brought great fame.” Which are the rhyming words? Can you see how we introduce our character?

5. Making the story We then thought about what was important about our local character. Why was he famous, or, what did he do that was good? And how could the Dragon threaten to spoil this? William Duesbury made china; very expensive china. Our Dragon threatens to spoil the china. “In comes I, the Dragon Red, I am a mischief maker. My tail is specially designed to be a china breaker.” Can you clap the rhythm while saying the words?

6. Local heroes and heroines We thought about all of the local heroes and heroines that we had heard of - famous, and, not so famous. Robin Hood is a famous hero who is believed to have lived in Nottingham Forest, not far from Derby. He stole from the rich to give to the poor. He used a bow and arrow. What could he do to stop the Dragon from breaking the china? “Stand back good friend, I’ll save the day, for Robin Hood am I And with my bow and arrow I will make this lizard fly!” Who do you think Robin Hood is talking to? Who is the lizard?

7. Robin Hood shoots the Dragon The Dragon falls to the ground. We needed to call for help to save the Dragon. Perhaps someone just passing by, or a local character can say: “Is there someone to be found can raise this Dragon from the ground?” We found out lots of things about local characters and places of importance in Derby and Derbyshire. We thought about who we could call on in Derby that could help medically. Florence Nightingale lived near Derby. There is a statue of her in Derby Who can you think of who could help a sick person or dragon?

8. Florence Nightingale was the founder of modern nursing “Florence Nightingale is my name. In the Crimean war I got my fame. I’ll tend this dragon and make him well; Rise up now from where you fell.”

9. The ‘Doctor’ In a Mummers’ Play the ‘doctor’ is a comedy role. He or she is what is known as a ‘Quack Doctor’. They don’t know anything about medicine but can boast a lot about what they can do. They will have all sorts of things in a ‘medical bag’ that they can bring out to cure the patient. Here are some of the things the ‘doctor’ may have: A fake saw to cut the patient open. A string of sausages that they pull out as the patient’s intestines. A large bottle marked POISON for medicine. What else could you do? What else could you use? Don’t forget – it has to be safe!

10. In our play King George and Royal Crown Derby artists help to solve the problem of what to do with the Dragon. Royal Crown Derby

11. The Crown in Royal Crown Derby We found out: Royal Crown Derby got its name when King George III recognised the uniqueness of Derby porcelain (china). In 1775 he granted the factory the rare honour of being able to put a crown into the identifying mark on the back of the china. Sometimes we used words we wouldn’t usually say to make the rhythms and rhymes. “King George the third am I, I’m here to save the day. I grant to you the royal crown so you may proudly say: By royal appointment we make pots, Crown Derby is the best To make the finest work of all, will always be our quest” Can you see any unusual words here? What do you think they mean?

12. What will happen to the Dragon? Royal Crown Derby china is painted by hand. The artists use real gold to paint with and they have made several dragons. Lots of people collect Royal Crown Derby china. Team of Artists “And now you Dragon Red and bold We’ll paint you with the finest gold! Rise up and sit, our shelves to brighten For you will be a collector’s item!”

13. And St George? He comes in last. We liked the idea that we could celebrate local heroes, heroines and characters and they could be just as good as St George. Our last lines say to the audience – come back next year , we’ll be here, if you can wait that long! We are creating our own tradition. “In comes I, St George, this is my special day Is there a citizen in distress or a dragon I can slay?” And everyone says: “Oh good St George, you’ve come too late, Its ‘til next year you’ll have to wait.”

14. Write your own Mummers’ Play

15. Planning Think of the characters. Write these down so you don’t forget them! Make the story. Make a storyline. This is a list of things that happen in the order that they will happen. Start at the start and finish at the end! Make up the lines. What will each character say and do to make this storyline happen? Write these down in the order they will be said to get from the beginning to the end.

16. The Main Characters For most Mummers’ Plays, the main characters that you will need to have in your play are: St George A local hero, heroine or historical character A Dragon (or someone or something to challenge that character) A doctor, or nurse, or someone who will heal or bring back to life

17. What you will need to do next Find out about local characters who have done something very good for where you live. Choose one. Think about what is important about your local character. Why was he/she famous or what did he/she do that was good? How could this good be threatened by the Dragon? You don’t have to choose a Dragon but we will call it that to make it easier.

18. Research You will need to do some research to write your play. You can visit your local museum, library or local studies library. You can ask friends, family and teachers. You can look online.

19. Who will stop the Dragon? Find out about local heroes and heroines. Famous, andnot so famous. They might be in a story, or perhaps the local newspaper. You could talk to family and friends, ask them if they know of anyone who has done something heroic. How would they stop the Dragon? What are they known for? What would they do? Examples: a Firefighter could use their fire hose on a Fiery Dragon, or a Writer might turn the Dragon onto a character in a book.

20. The ‘Doctor’ The Dragon will fall to the ground and die. Choose someone to call for help. Next, who will you have to save this character? It could be a doctor or perhaps you have a special character who has medical knowledge. Remember that this character is a comedy role!

21. All is well! The ‘doctor’ will bring the character back to life. How can you stop the threat from happening again? Can you think of characters and real people who could help? Think of something positive that they would suggest or do.

22. To finish In comes St George. He is too late to help but he will be back next year!

23. Adding more characters Now you have your main characters you can add more if you have lots of actors: Your main characters can be split into different roles by adding assistants, or having more than one of them, for example 2 or more firefighters. If you have a Dragon, it can be as long as you like, so more than one person! Perhaps the threat is made more than once and, in different ways, the Dragon is stopped and brought back to life. You can have a character introducing the play and welcoming in the first character. You can have characters at the end to thank the audience and to say goodbye.

24. Writing the lines Lines in a Mummers’ Play rhyme. Each character may have different patterns for where the rhyme is. Characters usually introduce themselves “In comes I………”or “I am……” or “……is my name” Make up the rhyme that will introduce your first character. Make sure people know who they are and what it is that they are known for – this is the thing that will be threatened.

25. And finally…….. Do the same thing for the next character, making sure they introduce themselves and say what they are know for and what they will do. Work along your story line allowing each character to introduce themselves and tell what they are going to do. Make a good dramatic ending! Make a note of all the actions and the things that they will need to do. These are the stage directions. And don’t forget, in a Mummers’ Play, males can play females and females can play males.

26. What next? The song? The costumes? Make a list of all the things you need for the play. These are called props. Mummers’ Plays usually start or finish with a song. There are a lot of traditional songs you could use, or you could write your own song. Some plays start with a broom dance. You can make your own costumes and disguises. Find out how to do these things here: https://folk3d.wordpress.com/educational-resources/

27. Good luck with your play!