Wednesday, February 3, 2010

A Klezmer Mummer's Play. Go Figure...

A Mummer's Play
Written by Jacob Bloom
Originally performed by Banbury Cross Morris
Portions of this play were taken from the traditional Ampleforth Sword Play. Permission to perform is granted, provided credit is given. If you do perform it, please send me a message and let me know.
ROOM:      Make room! Make room! Clear away from my broom! We need gallons, bucketfuls, oceans of room! Clear your feet out of the way and give us room to do our play. We'll make the winter go away. Now here comes one you'll be glad to see Though he's not as nice to look at as me. He's strong of arm, and stout of heart, Weak of brain, and not too smart. Come in now, Fool, and say your part.
FOOL:      In comes I, the simple fool. I always earned straight A's in school. My brain muscles were big and strong Til I sprained them playing Donkey Kong. Now I'm a fool, as you can see. Pray tell me now, how do you like me? Although I'm just a simple fool with brave Saint George I'll fight a duel to help drive the old year away and bring a happy New Year's Day
NEW YEARS:      In comes I, Happy New Years Day. In the winter's snow, I let you play And then the flowers of the spring And the summer's happy times I bring. And don't forget the leaves of fall. A whole year's joys, I bring them all. But before I come, the old year must die. Then I can rise, like the sun in the sky. Oh, where will we find a hero brave To die like the old year, so a new year we'll have?
ST. GEORGE:      I am Saint George, the hero bold. In rhyme and song my deeds are told. I killed the dreaded Turkish Knight And beat the dragon, in a six round fight. Giants have fallen to my strong arm And I've never received the slightest harm. I'm a champion of the highest degree. Does anyone here dare challenge me?
FOOL:      I challenge you, O hero of fame. I'll fight with you, Saint whats-your-name. You say you're a hero of highest degree. Nyah-nyah, nyah-nyah, can't scare me!
ST. GEORGE:      You braying ass! I'll run you through. With my great sword I'll cut you in two!
(They fight. Saint George runs, then curls up in a ball. The Fool trips over him. All proclaim Saint George the winner and hero.)
ST. GEORGE:      As night must die for there to be morn I must now die for a new year to be born. Like axe-men round an old oak tree Dance men, the sword dance now for me.
(Sword dance is performed. Swords are pulled out from lock around Saint George's neck, and he falls down dead.)
FATHER:      Hullo! What have we here? I think I see a clue. My son! He's dead, I fear. Who did it? Was it you?
ROOM:      I'm sure it's none of I That did this bloody act; It's he that follows me That did it, for a fact.
FOOL:      I'm sure it's none of I That did this awful crime. It's he that follows me That drew his sword so fine.
NEW YEARS:      Don't lay the blame on me You awful villains all; I'm sure my eyes were shut When this young man did fall.
DOCTOR:      How could your eyes be shut When I was looking on? I'm sure that you were with us When first our swords were drawn.
PARSON:      Now all of you, be still! We must bury him today, And lay his body down. Get on your knees and pray!
(Parson stands at head of body, others kneel next to it with hands folded. The following song is sung to the tune of the Funeral March.)
PARSON:      There was a farmer had a dog
ALL:      B, I, N, G, O
PARSON:      Old MacDonald had a farm
ALL:      E, I, E, I, O
PARSON:      Should auld acquaintance be forgot?
ALL:      I think it should, but maybe not
PARSON:      I am so happy
ALL:      I'm overwhelmed with joy.
FATHER:      We can't bury him like this When people all around us stand. We'll all be hung for murderers. For a doctor we must send!
(All call for a doctor. "Doctor!" "Is there a doctor in the house?")
FATHER:      Five bucks for a doctor!
DOCTOR:      What?
FATHER:      I said, five bucks for a doctor!
DOCTOR:      I'm a doctor.
FATHER:      How did you become a doctor?
DOCTOR:      I studied at Harvard.
FATHER:      What did you learn?
DOCTOR:      Which way to go on the Red Line.
FATHER:      Is that all you know?
DOCTOR:      Certainly not! I know how to use the latest medical electronic equipment.
FATHER:      Such as what?
DOCTOR:      Nintendo games.
FATHER:      What diseases can you cure?
DOCTOR:      I can cure pneumonia, old monia, Measles, yousles, Chicken pox, rabbit pox, Viruses, vi-not-ruses, walruses, Broken bones, broken hearts, broken promises, Broken TV sets, and, the common cold.
FATHER:      This man has been dead seven minutes. Can you cure him?
DOCTOR:      I can cure anyone, living or dead.
(examines body)
I'll have to do a CAT scan. Meow, meow, meow, meow.
FATHER:      Did you learn anything?
DOCTOR:      He's sick as a dog.
FATHER:      Can you cure him?
DOCTOR:      He needs C. P. R.
FATHER:      What's that?
DOCTOR:      Chest Pushing Regurgitation.
(acts as if about to do mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, makes face at smell of body's breath, tries blowing at and shaking body's arm.)
FATHER:      Can you cure him?
DOCTOR:      He needs the latest, greatest, wonder drugs.
(sticks large pill in body's mouth. pill is spit into the air.)
FATHER:      Can you cure him?
DOCTOR:      I've tried everything known to modern science! But I suppose I could try some mystical mumbo-jumbo.
(does some mystical mumbo-jumbo. Saint George arises. Everybody cheers.)
ST. GEORGE:      And now our play is done.
ROOM:      We can no longer stay.
FOOL:      We wish you all good health.
NEW YEARS:      And a happy New Year's Day.
ALL:      HAPPY NEW YEAR!


Contact Jacob Bloom & A Klez Act
We provide dance calling, storytelling and music for your group or event. We take commissions for dances, music and songs for weddings and other special occasions. E-mail Jacob Bloom and A Klez Act at bloom@gis.net.

Saturday, January 9, 2010

Moving On

Old Christmas is passed, and I too will be moving on.
Please come and visit me here:
http://thewintersolstice.blogspot.com/
I envision an old black and white movie where the calendar pages turn as I turn the page and write towards the Spring.

January 9

The stars called me to the window this morning
and bade me to begin anew.

The stars bade me to the window this morning
so I could hear the song
they sing the night long
as mortals dream.

Changing with the seasons
Changing with the light.
They sing the night long
and they sing it short again..

They sing to the mother who wakens for her child
The child still remembers and wakes to hear their song.

Januarius is the month of stars.
heralded in by the great star the three kings followed.
Of Yuletide slipping away
and Brigid's whisper
that she is on her way.

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Wonderful Crowning of King and Queen

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbOd79161bk&feature=related

Mumming in Newfoundland

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FzJW65XwKPY&feature=related

The Play


Fool:
Room! Room! Brave gallants all
Come give us room to rhyme
We’ve come to show activity
While it’s still Christmas time.
Beneath the stars on this 12th Night
We’ll bring to life the age old fight
A hero will battle with all his might
To defeat the darkness and set things right.
Come forth Saint George!
Don’t be so proud!
Address yourself to this fine crowd.
Saint George: 
In comes I, Saint George,
a man of courage bold.
With my broad axe and my broad sword,
I’ve won three crowns of gold.
Father Christmas:
In comes I, old Father Christmas,
welcome or welcome not.
I hope old Father Christmas
will never be forgot.
Christmas comes but once a year
And when it does, it brings good cheer.
Twelve nights of roast beef, strong ale and mince pie.
Does anyone like that any better than I?
Even at my advanced age of two thousand and ten.
Christmas Tree:
This country’s gotten so P.C.
I’m told I can’t say “Christmas Tree.”
So, in comes I,
the tree that dare not say its name.
At Saturnalia in ancient Rome,
they welcomed me in to their home.
After the Romans took a fall
I decked the merry Yuletide hall.
Artificial, live or balled,
it matters not what I am called.
Ever green am I!
I raise my branches to the sky!
Saint George:
Good morrow sire
Father Christmas:
Good Morrow Son.
Our long year’s work
is nearly done.
Dark Knight:
In comes I the old Dark Knight.
I’ll give Old Saint George a fright.
I’ll split his skull and break his bone.
Then I’ll steal his cellular phone.
(Marches up to George and taps his shoulder)
I’ll Pinch your cheeks.
I’ll box your ears.
With my rapier wit
I’ll reduce you to tears.
Saint George:
Oh please, I’m English, do remember.
With my sharp tongue, foes I dismember.
I look down my nose.
I thrust out my chin.
My tsk, tsk, tsk will do you in.
A Battle ensues. Saint George falls.
Father Christmas:
Oh, Dark Knight, what have you done?
Robbed the life of this my son,
Whose life had only just begun,
Now set too soon, like the winter sun.
A doctor! 
A doctor must be found! (pronounce so it rhymes with wound)
To save him from this grievous wound.
A doctor could save one, this I'll wager
I'll try to beep one on his pager.
(Take out cell phone and dial. Speak in to the cell phone as if you are speaking to a doctor.)
Yes! I paged you on your beeper!
Please come at once to raise this sleeper!
The Doctor:
In comes I, the doctor
The best you’ve ever seen.
I can put the lead back in your pencil
and the jump in the jumping bean.
I have snake oil, brake oil,
Hot Jalapeno and extra strength Tylenol.
My remedies all taste delicious.
Oh come now, don’t look so suspicious,
I can cure the worst affliction—
PMS, caffeine addiction,
male pattern baldness, or hidden rashes
but I draw the line at stock market crashes.
If there’s nine demons in I’ll fetch ten out. 
I’ll make this sleeper rise and shout!
They say THIS works on the internet!
(Administer remedy. It doesn't work)
Father Christmas: 
Enough with all the New Age hoaxes
Just give me a diagnosis!
Doctor: Dead as a doornail.
Doctor:
Green in winter when all lies dead,
come, lay your branches at his head.
Water of life, pray be forgiving.
Bring this one back to the living.
Doctor:
He lives again, neither dead nor ill
The time has come to pay my bill
Father Christmas:
I’ll file this with the new health care
They’ll pay at once what they think fair.
Tree:
They’ll be sad when they discover.
Resurrection isn’t covered. 
Saint George:
Now Christmas is past, 
Twelfth Night is the last. 
To the Old Year adieu, 
Great joy to the new.
Doctor:
So come Saint George, with all your ego,
our play is done, it’s time that we go.

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

12th Night

     As most of you know the "Hat City" Mummer's Play is a blend of old and new. The old story is the battle where Saint George dies and is brought to life again. Marnen and I wrote the original Hat City Mummer's Play over the phone one afternoon many years ago. Most of it is new material—a re-telling of the old story. But we did leave in certain lines which have been recited for centuries. Yes, centuries. There are hundreds of transcripts of plays from different villages, going back to the early 1700s. Certain lines repeat themselves including "In comes I, Old Father Christmas, welcome or welcome not..."
     I always wondered about the "welcome or welcome not" line. I was aware that Christmas was once outlawed, both in Puritan England and in the New England colonies. While they were having a fine old time down in the Virginia colony, it was against the law to celebrate Christmas in any way, shape or form in Boston. So stringent were the prohibitions that in the Boston and Connecticut colonies "mince pie sniffers" were hired by the local authorities to go about the settlement sniffing out anyone who might be making either mince pie or plum pudding! Now there's a municipal job for you. 
     Suddenly the "welcome or welcome not" line made sense. Oliver Cromwell was the driving force behind Christmas being outlawed in England, and laws were passed to this effect in 1645. In Connecticut the laws went in to effect in 1657. So "welcome or welcome not" speech with the listing of "banned" delicacies is clearly a reference to the odious ban on Christmas.
     Another line which comes is repeated in many of the plays is the wound/found line:
     A doctor! A doctor must be found
     To save him from this grievous wound.
     I suppose it's obvious that "found" and "wound" once rhymed, at least in some dialects. Certainly my Scottish grandfather would have said "foond" rather than "fownd".