A mummers’ play is a type of folk theatre that has been performed by enthusiastic amateurs in villages and towns for hundreds of years, more often recently by morris dancers and folk revivalists. Some plays use scripts with origins lost in the mists of time… or at least first recorded in Victorian times. Themes of resurrection and new beginnings mean that these plays are often performed at the turn of the year, between the winter solstice and Twelfth Night – although, as with much in the folk world, it can all get a bit more eclectic than that.

We have a proud tradition of performing self-penned mummers’ plays, bringing Bristol’s myths and heroes to the stage. Over our 35+ years of existence we’ve told quite a few stories…

– The Legend of Vincent and Goram, the giants of Bristol
– The Severn Bores and the Wyld Wimmin
– The Nine Lives of Isambard Kingdom Brunel
–  Prince Albert and the Lionheart
– The Big Bang*

*(hey, everywhere was local in the beginning).

We’ve also taken on that old monster – tradition – with a couple of plays based on mumming tales from South Cerney and Alveston in Gloucestershire.

For summer 2018 we revived one of our most successful plays, the story of Bristol’s favourite reckless engineer. With performances at the Cottage Inn, Priddy Folk Festival, and the Harbourside Festival.