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Preparing a School Winter Solstice Performance
The Feast of Stephen
A Celebration of the Winter Solstice at the Court of Good King Wenceslas
Cast:
Treble Chorus
Concert Chorus
Music Master
Fool*
Page
Good King Wenceslas* (GKW)
Silent Knight
Knight Before Christmas
Late Knight
Mummers:
Father Christmas
Johnny Jack
Hobby Horse
Dragon
Saint George
Doctor
Townspeople
*also a Mummer
* * *
Prelude:
(Wind Ensemble performs carols from the balcony as audience is seated)
Processional: Personent Hodie
(Concert Chorus takes places in seats; Treble Chorus takes places on stage)
Fool
(sweeping the stage, singing)
Fal de ral, de riddle al de rey do,
Fal de ral, de riddle al de rey!
Fal de ral, de riddle al de rey do,
Fal lal lal lal riddle al de rey!
(noticing Chorus, audience)
Oh dear, the wassailers are here, already!
And my Lords and Ladies!
The feast is about to begin,
And no mummers, no dancers,
And no King!
Where is that Page?
Music Master, perhaps you had best warm up the wassailers
with a ditty whilst I, um, determine the state of preparations.
(they bow to one another)
(exiting) Page?! Where are you?!
Where’s that confounded Page? (etc.)
Treble Chorus: Little Jack Horner
(Fool and Page enter)
Fool
There you are! My dear Page. (bows)
Page
My Lord Fool. (bows)
Fool
The wassailers and the Court have arrived for the Feast of Stephen.
Is the kitchen ready?
Page
The boar’s head in still in the oven, I believe.
Fool
Free range?
Page
Of course.
Fool
No antibiotics?
Page
Indeed.
Fool
Very good. Is the wassail ready?
Page
The cook has just put the cider on the stove.
Fool
Organic?
Page
Verily.
Fool
Very well then. And where is the Good King?
Page
Ah, the Good King. He, ah, went to look out.
Fool
He went to look out?
Page
He went to look out.
Fool
On the Feast of Stephen?
Page
Indeed.
Fool
But there’s nothing but snow, round about,
Fool & Page
Deep and crisp and even.
Page
What with the dragon on the loose, eating his subjects left and right, I fear the Good King is anxious on account of his knights.
Fool
Knowing his knights, I’d be anxious too!
Page
While we wait, let us hear if the wassailers are fit to sing for the King! Music Master! Let us hear something then!
Music Master
A New Year Carol by the most famous, the honorable Benjamin Britten. (bows)
Treble Chorus: A New Year Carol
Page
I believe that will do.
Fool
My Lord Page! The King!
(Enter Good King Wenceslas. Concert Chorus stands, Fool and Page bow.)
Page
Your Majesty! The Feast is ready to begin! Where have you been?
Good King Wenceslas
My Lord Page! We were detained by affairs of state.
Page
The dragon?
GKW
Indeed. But our knights have the situation well in hand, we hope. Well then!
Lords and Ladies of the Court!
Concert Chorus
Good King Wenceslas!
GKW
Our dear subjects!
Treble Chorus
Good King Wenceslas!
GKW
Welcome to the Feast of Stephen! Tonight we celebrate the coming Winter Solstice with feasting, music, and merriment! As the longest night of the year approaches, let us be thankful for the gifts that have been given us! Together, with story and with song, we can drive the dark away! Let the festivities begin!
Page
(to audience)
Please join us in singing the traditional carol,
Our Good King’s very own,
Good King Wenceslas!
All: Good King Wenceslas
(Concert Choir sits.)
Page
Your majesty, what of your knights?
Fool
Those who have not been eaten were to have returned for the Feast.
GKW
Alas, our poor knights! They have not returned!
Fool
Not even Sir Elton?
GKW
Nay, nor Sir Paul.
Page
Look! Here comes one of your knights now!
(Silent Knight enters, tiptoeing through house, hushing the audience, exits.)
Fool
Who was that?
GKW
We know not. Pray tell, who is he?
Page
That, Your Majesty, is the Silent Knight.
Groans from Concert Chorus, Treble Chorus.
Page
I believe, sire, that the wassail is ready to be served.
GKW
Excellent! Let us be served! My dear wassailers, the moment has arrived! We are pleased to be entertained by your minstrelry! Bring on the wassail!
Treble Chorus: Gloucestershire Wassail
GKW
Marry, this is the finest wassail we have tasted this many a year past! And better still than the wassail, the wassailers! Three cheers for our fine singers!
Concert Choir
Huzzah! Huzzah! Huzzah! (applause)
Fool
Your Majesty, another knight approacheth!
Knight Before Christmas enters, followed by another page carrying a small Christmas tree. He gallops through the audience, calling out:
Knight Before Christmas
December 24th! December 24th! December 24th! Etc. exits
GKW
What a strange fellow! How he doth carry on! We do not recognize yon knight either, pray, who is he?
Page
That, Your Majesty, is the Knight Before Christmas…
groans from Concert Chorus, Treble Chorus
Fool
…and he went all through the house!
more groans from Concert Chorus, Treble Chorus
Page
Your Majesty, The mummers have not yet arrived, but the boar’s head is ready to be served!
GKW
Blast! It will be a sorry feast if we have no mummers to play for our dessert. We hope that they have not been eaten en route. This accursed dragon hath laid waste my kingdom, eaten my knights, and now even threatens to spoil our winter solstice celebration! We had hoped to feast on dragon tail this year and dispense with the gnarly old boar’s head for a change…still, a tradition is a tradition! What would the Feast of Stephen be without it?
Page
Ummm….vegetarian?
GKW
Indeed. Perhaps you have something there. Next year, let’s have tofurkey instead. But there’s no use letting all of our cook’s labor go for naught. Bring on the boar’s head!
Page
Bring on the boar’s head!
Interlude: Shrewsbury Lasses (instrumentalists)
(Concert Chorus exits, Treble Chorus takes places in pews vacated by Concert Chorus. When Concert Chorus is ready to process in…)
Page
Your Majesty, the boar’s head!
Concert Chorus: Boar’s Head Carol
(Concert Chorus processes in with boar’s head. When carol has been sung, GKW is served and Concert Chorus takes places on stage. GKW begins to ‘eat’.)
GKW
…and a delicious looking boar’s head it is! Music Master! What entertainment has the Court prepared for our diversion this evening?
Music Master
Our first selection is a traditional carol from Kentucky, Your Majesty.
GKW
Kentucky? I have heard of it, it is nigh unto France, I believe.
Music Master
It is my understanding that Kentucky is even closer to home than France.
GKW
Indeed. Well then, carry on!
MM
Thank you, Your Majesty.
(Music Master readies the chorus, then just before they begin to sing…)
Late Knight
(entering at a run from the back of the hall)
Wait! Wait for me! I’m coming! And I have seen him!
GKW
You have seen him? Seen who?
Late Knight
The dragon, Your Majesty, and he’s coming this way!
Gasps from Concert Chorus, Treble Chorus
GKW
Pray tell, how far off is he?
Late Knight
About a good league hence, Your Majesty.
GKW
In which direction?
Late Knight
(pointing)
That way, Your Majesty.
GKW
Underneath the mountain?
Late Knight
Right against the forest fence!
Concert Choir
By Saint Agnes’ Fountain!
GKW
Oh dear! We’d best carry on with our feast lest it be interrupted and the feasters become the feast itself!
Late Knight
(to the Music Master)
The dragon ate my choir folder.
Music Master
Now that’s an excuse I haven’t heard before!
(he gives Late Knight a folder, and Late Knight takes his place in the chorus)
GKW
Now don’t tell me! Let me guess! That…is the Late Knight!
groans from Concert Chorus, Treble Chorus
Concert Chorus: Hush, My Babe
GKW
My Lords and Ladies! Thy sweet and melodious singing hath quite taken away our appetite! Truly, the taste of food pales before the splendor of such delicious music. We must partake of this feast! No longer shall we tarry at meat – tonight we dine on the concorde of sweet sounds!
(GKW takes a chorus folder from Music Master, joins the Concert Chorus.)
Music Master
A song in the French style by the honorable Orlandus Lassus, late of Italy and the Netherlands.
Concert Chorus: Mon Coeur se Recommande a Vous (in French)
GKW
‘Tis a fine ditty! We must have it again! But this time in English, we’ll have no more Frenchifying this night!
Concert Chorus: Mon Coeur se Recommande a Vous (in English)
GKW
Marry, ‘tis a sweet and melancholy air! What is the next course, O Music Master?
Music Master
A song in Hebrew, Your Majesty. A song of peace, and of our wishes for a more harmonious world.
Concert Chorus: Ose Shalom
GKW
Such delectable music is truly fit for this King! On what shall we dine next?
Music Master
Your Majesty, allow me to present to you my humble offering for this evening, a setting of the famous song from As You Like It by the honorable William Shakespeare, late of London and Stradford-on-Avon.
GKW
Ah yes, Willy the Shake, we know him well. Most appetizing!
Concert Chorus: Blow, Blow, Thou Winter Wind
GKW
Thou hast surpassed thyself this evening, Music Master. Page?
Page
Yes, Your Majesty.
GKW
Be certain to set aside the leavings from the boar’s head for the Music Master’s dinner this night.
Page
Yes, Your Majesty.
Music Master
The last course, Your Majesty. From Spain, a traditional carol of the season.
Concert Chorus: Riu, Riu, Chiu
(Page exits to the wing; GKW steps forward from the Concert Chorus)
GKW
My Lords and Ladies! Music Master! We thank you for the most satisfying feast we have devoured this many a day past! Bravo!
(leads audience applause)
Page
(entering from wing)
Your Majesty! My Lords and Ladies! The mummers! The dancers! They have arrived!
Concert Choir
The mummers! Hooray! The dancers! Etc.
GKW
(taking his seat)
My Lords and Ladies, pray, be at thy ease.
(Concert Chorus sits & Mummers exit to the wing)
Now let us feast upon the frolickings and entertainments of the players for our justly earned dessert!
Enter Mummers
Mummers: Linden Corner School Mummer’s Play (PDF)
Dancers: Lads-a-bunch’em
Interlude: ‘Thank yous’
Music Master: ‘The Shortest Day’
Concert Chorus & Treble Chorus: Masters in This Hall
(all recess)
End.
Walter Bitner, November 2006
‘The Feast of Stephen’ script ©2006 Walter Bitner
Click here to download this script as a PDF:
The Feast of Stephen Script
This script is free to copy, distribute and amend for educational purposes;
please credit Walter Bitner as the original author.
‘Linden Corner School Mummers Play’ compiled by
Walter Bitner from traditional sources and from an original
play by Walter Bitner & Jody Kruskal.
©1995 Walter Bitner & Jody Kruskal
©2006, 2012 Walter Bitner
This play is free to copy, distribute and amend for educational purposes;
please credit Walter Bitner & Jody Kruskal as the original authors.
‘The Feast of Stephen’ is inspired by the life and work of the late John Langstaff (1920-2005) and Revels, his legacy.
* * *
Preparing a School Winter Solstice Performance:
Christmas in July <– START HERE
In Comes I: The Student Mummer’s Play
We Come To Show Activity: Producing a Student Mummer’s Play
Fieldston Outdoors Mummer’s Play
Nashville School of the Arts Mummer’s Play
The Feast of Stephen: The Script
Walter Bitner 