English Folk Drama - Transmission
Transmission
As with most folklore, mumming plays continued by being passed on informally from person to person and down the generations, and a common scenario was when one of the team moved to another village and started a new team. There were also occasions when a new team was deliberately started by a disgruntled member of an existing troupe, or, when others, mindful of the money to be made, started a rival team.
But in some areas - particularly Lancashire and the North West, the words were printed on little paper-covered booklets, called chapbooks, by which anyone with a penny or two to spend could acquire the words and stage-directions, such as they were. This scenario was particularly common in places where the custom had become one for children. Members of a children's team quickly move on, and the groups of friends who made up the teams often performed for a few years only. The printed texts ensured that the custom could survive even if it only existed in fits and starts.
