English Folk Drama - Characters and Roles
Characters and Roles
The character-names vary widely across the country and are often less important than the roles which the characters fulfilled.
Where the play was performed at Christmas, Father Christmas was almost always included, usually as the Presenter. Incidentally, the name ‘Santa Claus’ was virtually unknown in Britain till late Victorian times, so its appearance in a play signals a relatively recent addition.
By far the most common name for the first hero or knight is King or St. George, but others were often found, such as ‘Galoshans’ in Scotland, or other Kings, such as King William. It is clear that St. George was the original, as whatever the name his lines almost always include a reference to killing a dragon.
Contrary to general belief, however, it was extremely rare to find a play in which a Dragon appeared as a character, and where such a version was found it had invariably been taken from a book rather than from the local tradition.
The name of George’s first combatant varies widely, although ‘Turkish Knight’ (or ‘Turkey Snipe’, etc.) is common, but he can be ‘Bold Slasher’, ‘the King of Egypt’, ‘the Noble (or Bold) Captain’, and so on.
The Doctor is almost invariably just ‘the Doctor’ or something simple like ‘Doctor Brown’ or ‘Doctor Dodd’. It is often assumed that this was a satirical reference to a real local doctor, but it is more likely that the rhyme of his speech dictated it – ‘In comes I Doctor Brown / The best quack doctor in thus town..’, and so on.
Little Johnny Jack (with his ‘wife and family on his back’)
Beelezub (‘and on my should I carry my club..’)
Little Devil Doubt (‘with my shirt tail hanging out...’)
In all traditional customs there are great areas of similarity between teams, but also major areas of difference. Character names, for example, could change a great deal, but the roles that they played in the performance remained constant. So, for example, the main ‘hero’ or ‘knight’ might be St. George, King George, King William, Galoshans, and so on, but what he did was exactly the same.
Folklorists have therefore identified this as the basic structure:
Introduction
Presenter – The one who announces the team and says that they will soon be performing. He often asks for ‘room’ or a space to perform.
Hero 1 – The first of the heroes or knights who boasts of his own exploits, brags of his bravery, and challenges others to fight.
Hero 2 – The knight who takes up the challenge
The Fight
There can be more Heroes and more fights
The Lament
The character who laments the death/wounding of Hero 2 and who calls for the Doctor. The Lamenter is often the same character as the Presenter.
The Cure
The Doctor who performs the Cure, often after some haggling with the Lamenter
The Doctor often has an Assistant who helps/hinders in the Cure
The Quête
Other characters who take no real part in the action but who ask for money, food, drink, and so on.
The Entertainment
Most teams rounded off the performance with songs, dances, other skits, and so on.
The above is the basic country-wide action, but in some places there were extras. For example, is some there was a Wild Horse and his Driver, in others one of the characters was dressed and acted as an ‘old woman’ and so on.
