Evolution of the Drama in Hull and District

Abstract

IN this volume the versatile curator of the Hull Museum has published, with some expansion and numerous illustrations, an address delivered by him in his office of president of the Hull Playgoers' Society. Properly speaking, theatrical history in Hull does not begin until 1767, except for an ordinance of the Mayor and Corporation forbidding burgesses to attend performances of the players in 1599. Nor does Hull itself contribute much to the history of the drama, although Beverley, which comes within Mr. Sheppard's area, celebrated Corpus Christi with the usual plays and gild processions, and is also credited with the first mention of miracle plays. Mr. Sheppard has drawn liberally on the material available from York, Chester, and elsewhere in elucidating the early stages of his subject. No Corpus Christi plays are recorded in Hull; but it is interesting to note that there was a performance of the Noah play on Plough Monday in medieval and later times, when a large ship which hung suspended in the transept of Holy Trinity Church was taken down, dragged round the town, and then served as the ark of the play in front of the church. Mr. Sheppard describes a Ploughboys' Monday celebration which he himself saw in his early youth, when a group of rustic players went from house to house and acted a play which seems to have been of the usual folk drama type, culminating in the killing of one of the characters.

Evolution of the Drama in Hull and District.

Thomas

Sheppard

By. Pp. xii + 254. (Hull: A. Brown and Sons, Ltd., 1927.) n.p.