On Thursday, January 9, The Carrot is pleased to welcome the Albertavia Mummers Collective for a Deep Freeze Festival warm-up. The team of artists bring together mythical lore, history, and the essence of communities in a 20-minute play for all to enjoy. Play starts at 6 pm!

What is a Mummers Play?

Theatre (Mummery) is a tradition that goes back to the middle ages when, during Christmas, or just before Lent, serfs and peasants would dress up in “disguises” and present pageant style performances to their liege lords. These performances were almost always in rhyme and involved certain set elements such as the theme of death and resurrection, as well as certain recurring characters such as St. George, Dame Jane (usually played by a man), Tom Fool, A Monk or Doctor, a monster of some sort, and some hero and heroine plot twist.

There are three main styles within the Mummers tradition: the Battle/Combat, the Wooing, and the Tup. Often elements of all three styles can be found in certain plays. The plays were presented to the lords at their castles and estates in hopes of donations of food or coins or clothes. The mummers tradition was prevalent throughout Europe and grew and developed many variations in different countries, changing and evolving from the middle ages to modern times. Today we see it still alive and thriving all over modern Europe as well as the US, and Canada. It has found a particularly rich expression in the east coast maritime provinces. It is now sprouting up in communities all over Canada, and we are eager to join in the fun.