Organizers may wish to print and distribute all or part of this as a recruiting flyer. Be warned: we will take it away from participants to begin the workshop! But we will give it back.
Lynn Noel of the Paper Bag Mummers will lead you in putting on a traditional English mummers' play with no rehearsal. Yes, it can be done--and you can do it! You do not need any special clothing, advance read-throughs, or acting experience. Mummers plays were traditionally done by regular people in regular clothes, making fools of themselves for their friends and neighbors to celebrate the season. The tradition continues!
For details, see the Squire's Notes. Each workshop participant will receive a copy of these notes at the end of the session. Please do not hand them out in advance, as our chief weapon is surprise.
Once your cast of characters is assembled, we--YOU!--can be onstage with less than 30 minutes advance notice.
Why so quickly? Won't it be terrible? Oddly enough, no. PBM's approach to mumming is based on storytelling and melodrama, using the script as a scenario and improvising around it. Our friends in commedia dell'arte explain it very well:
Not really. Each of the actors knows his or her character's history, needs, and relationship to the other characters. All of the characters know the scenario, a written plotline, generally 3 to 4 pages long. [Some] of the dialogue, the specific interactions, and [most of the] physical bits (fights, dances, or romance) are improvised.
Yes, that's what we're trying to tell you.
Not completely different, no. But pretty different.
(from FAQ, I Sebastiani, The Greatest Commedia Troupe In The Entire World)
Paper Bag Mummers aren't as extreme as this, since we work from a printed chapbook and stick fairly closely to the written script. However, the mummers soon find that the text gives LOTS of room for backchat, physical comedy, and mugging for the audience. In fact, there is a secret sauce at work here.
We surprise the ACTORS. You'd be surprised at what happens when you are NOT reading aloud. In particular, we simply skip that dreadful mumbling read-through where the actor is relating to the script and not the audience. And we have no expectation of memorization, so there's no pressure there. This is why we don't pass out printed materials until the very last minute (see the Squire's Notes). Again and again for several decades now, we've found that we get the best edge in performance by keeping the troupe a little off balance, while promising you that there is no such thing as a mistake. And we really mean that.
The thrill of victory is pretty exhilarating when the group declaims the PBM motto--"We never rehearse, we ONLY PERFORM!" There is a mad rush offstage, and people look at each other a little sheepishly. "Hey, we were pretty good!" "Yeah, you were GREAT!" "And YOU! When you jumped in like that..." and so it goes on.
Anyone can do this, and you just did. There's no greater satisfaction for a Squire, or a Fool. Now YOU are a Paper Bag Mummer!