English Folk Drama - Plough or Wooing Plays
Plough Or Wooing Plays
Traditionally found only in the East Midlands – Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire and Rutland.
The Plough Play is so named because it usually took place around Plough Monday and the teams often took a plough round with them, but it can also be called the Wooing Play or Recruiting Sergeant Play, reflecting the action and the characters. Of the three types of Mumming Play, the Plough Play is in many ways the most complex, and the most like a conventional theatrical ‘play’, although the custom as performed around the villages still bore little resemblance to a stage play.
The basic plot is: A young man courts a Lady but is rejected and he is persuaded to join the army by a Recruiting Sergeant. The Lady then accepts the hand of a Clown or Fool. An older female appears and accuses the Clown of being the father of her illegitimate baby, which he denies. The next sequence is the same as the basic Hero-Combat play in which two characters fight, one is killed and he is revived by a doctor.
The wooing section of the play is often sung, and the female parts were all played by men
