Tuesday, March 24, 2009

 

The Mummer Returns

On Saturday I will be taking part in a show called The Role of the Village Idiot, An afternoon of public art/street performance on Peckham Square Saturday 28th March 2 til 6pm. It's curated by Mark McGowan and he explains it like this :

"The theme of the afternoon is performance and the role of the village idiot. Obviously we have the holy fools, shakespears court jester, the dada art movement, but the village idiot is something else he/she is something other, something familiar, somebody we all know and recognise in our local communities. Here we will attempt to investigate, the role of the village idiot, the question of a necessary expulsion, the emotion of shame and how that relates to modern day life, street theatre and public art. Mainly using gesture and small props the artists will attempt to engage with the everyday happenings in peckham square. There will be a reception in the Bunhouse Pub opposite Peckham square in the evening."

I plan to stage a version of a traditional Mummers play, a traditional form of village pantomime often performed by Morris Dancers. Mummers groups would travel around their parish at holiday times performing short plays in pubs or manor houses in return for money and ale. The plays were spoken in rhyme, perfomers would often getting quicker as they became more familiar with the material but also more drunk and incoherent. As Mumming fell out of fashion and the old boys died off the remaining members of the group would often have to play multiple roles during the play. I will be performing as the last Mummer, attempting to play all the roles in the play myself.

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