mummers' playn.
/ˈmʌməz pleɪ/, U.S. /ˈməmərz ˌpleɪ/ A traditional play of a type performed by mummers esp. at the major holidays and popular in England from the 18th cent.These plays were typically performed in private houses by visiting groups of mummers, often masked or wearing other disguises. Different types of play were associated with different festivals (e.g. the ‘pace egg play’ at Easter); 18th-century examples include ‘Alexander and the King of Egypt’ and ‘George and the Dragon’, etc. The term mummer's play appears to be the invention of 19th-cent. folklorists.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > drama > a play > [noun] > other types of play
king play1469
king game1504
historya1509
chronicle history1600
monology1608
horseplaya1627
piscatory1631
stock play1708
petite pièce1712
mimic1724
ballad opera1730
ballad farce1735
benefit-play1740
potboiler1783
monodrama1793
extravaganza1797
theo-drama1801
monodrame1803
proverb1803
stock piece1804
bespeak1807
ticket-night1812
dramaticle1813
monopolylogue1819
pièce d'occasion1830
interlude1831
mimea1834
costume piece1834
mummers' play1849
history play1850
gag-piece1860
music drama1874
well-made1881
playlet1884
two-decker1884
slum1885
kinderspiel1886
thrill1886
knockabout1887
two-hander1888
front-piece1889
thriller1889
shadow-play1890
mime play1894
problem play1894
one-acter1895
sex play1899
chronicle drama1902
thesis-play1902
star vehicle1904
folk-play1905
radio play1908
tab1915
spy play1919
one-act1920
pièce à thèse1923
dance-drama1924
a mess of plottage1926
turkey1927
weepie1928
musical1930
cliffhanger1931
mime drama1931
triangle drama1931
weeper1934
spine-chiller1940
starrer1941
scorcher1942
teleplay1947
straw-hatter1949
pièce noire1951
pièce rose1951
tab show1951
conversation piece1952
psychodrama1956
whydunit1968
mystery play1975
State of the Nation1980
1849 J. O. Halliwell Pop. Rhymes & Nursery Tales 231 Christmas Mummers' Play. A rude drama is performed at Christmas by the guisers or mummers in most parts of England and Scotland.
1852 Notes & Queries 28 Feb. 216/1 (advt.) A Derbyshire Mummer's Play.
1873 Catholic World Jan. 452/1 I never could make out the full meaning of the ‘mummers'’ play.
1890 National Rev. Mar. 59 The mummer's play at Christmas-tide is gone.
1932 Man 32 23/1 Other ceremonies are the Fête Dieu..and the Corpus Christi..processions..the Spanish-Basque sword-dances..and a Mummers Play found in Barèges.
1967 Listener 6 Apr. 471/3 Vegetation ceremonies still describable in pace-egging and mummers' plays.
2006 D. S. Kastan Oxf. Encycl. Brit. Lit. 47/1 When we find close parallels to the action of the modern mummers' plays in early theatrical drama,..it cannot be assumed that the mummers' play came first; influence may be in the other direction.
This is a new entry (OED Third Edition, March 2003; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
<
n.1849