Context:

Location: Redruth, Cornwall, England (SW6941)
Year: Perf. after 1910 and before 1925
Time of Occurrence: Christmas
Collective Name: [Not given]

Source:

R.M.N. [R.Morton Nance]
A Redruth Christmas Play
Old Cornwall, Apr.1925, Vol.1, No.1, pp.29-31

Cast:

Text:

{Enter Jack.}

Jack.

I open the door, I enter in;
I hope the game will soon begin.
I'll stir up the fire and make a light,
And in this house will be a fight.

{Enter King George.}

King George.

Here comes I, King George;
King George is my name.
With sword and thistle by my side
I'm sure to win the game.

Jack.

You, sir?

K.G.

I, sir!

Jack.

Take the sword, and try, sir!

{They fight: Jack falls.}

K.G.

Now I've knocked him to the ground,
There's not a doctor to be found.
How much for a doctor?

{A Dutch auction for a doctor takes place here. A player, perhaps the Doctor himself, leaving out the obvious 'Fifty pound,' that would Complete King George's last line calls successively, 'Forty? - Thirty? - Twenty?' to each of which King George answers, 'No!' and then, 'Ten?' to which he replies, 'Bring him in.'}

[Doctor?]

Forty?

King George

No!

[Doctor?]

Thirty?

King George

No!

[Doctor?]

Twenty?

King George

No!

[Doctor?]

Ten?

King George

Bring him in.

{Enter Doctor.}

Doctor.

Here comes I, old Doctor Brown;
The best old doctor in the town.

K.G.

Why became you the best old doctor?

Dr.

By my travels.

K.C. [sic]

Where did you travel?

Dr.

England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales,
and back to old England again.

K.G.

Cure Jack!

Dr.

Here Jack, take my medicine and rise.

{He doctors Jack, who rises; all stand back.}

{Enter Jacky Sweep.}

Jacky Sweep.

Here comes I, old Jacky Sweep;
All the money I catch, I keep. {sings-}
Lord Nelson, Lord Nelson, Lord Nelson I see;
With a bunch of blue ribbons tied up to his knee.

{Here the party sings a wassail song.}

All.

Whe'er it's silver or copper, I do not refuse;
Put your hand in your pocket and give what you please,
For our warsale, warsale,
And jolly come to our jolly warsale.
If the missus is sleeping, I hope she will wake,
And go to the cupboard and cut up some cake,
For our ...
There's the missus and master sitting down by the fire,
And we poor warsale boys are travelling a mile,
With our ...
If the missus and master don't take amiss,
And send out their daughter to give us a kiss,
With our ...
The roads they are dirty; our shoes are so thin
Oh, do give us something for singing so well
With our ...

{Finis.}

Notes:

R.M.N.'s provenance:

"Communicated by Miss L.Eddy to Mr.A.K.Hamilton Jenkin, a witness of its performance."

R.M.N.'s notes:

"NOTE.- This version of the Christmas Play, performed at Redruth within the last fifteen years, is remarkable as being far closer to versions from the North of England than to other West-Country versions. Thus 'Jack's'opening speech is found in Derbyshire, 'Doctor Brown' is a Northern name for this important character, 'Jacky Sweep' uses lines given to 'Devil Doubt' in Yorkshire, and Lord Nelson is a character in Northern 'Pace Egg' plays, performed at Easter. The play, though very much cut down, keeps all the essentials:- A fight; a man slain and revived by the doctor, and comic relief to the tragedy in the 'Jacky Sweep,' with blackened face and broom. There are severel curious substitutions, as - 'sword and thistle,' for 'sword and buckler,' 'Scotland and Wales,' for 'France and Spain,' and in the Wassail Song 'give what you please,' instead of 'choose,' and 'Oh do give us something for singing so well' where one expects 'We've got a little pocket to put a penny in.' R.M.N."

Indexer's notes:

The dialogue calling for the doctor, described in the stage directions, has also been rendered as lines in this transcription.

File History:

2001-08-26 - Encoded by Peter Millington
2021-01-15 - TEI-encoded by Peter Millington

Extras:

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