Mummers' Plays Scheme of Work

(ages 13-14)

This six-lesson unit guides students through the traditional folk form of Mummers’ Plays. Lessons use practical games, hot-seating and devised performance to build stock characters, rhyming couplets, narration and a comic fight sequence. One lesson includes step-by-step unarmed combat instructions designed to develop a safe, slapstick climax. The unit concludes with a performance-style assessment that can double as an in-class evaluation or a short assembly/Christmas concert piece.

What Students Will Learn

Across this unit students create and sustain exaggerated stock characters, experiment with physical comedy and slapstick, practise narration and audience address, and write simple rhyming couplets. They will rehearse a structured introduction, develop a comic fight sequence using basic unarmed combat moves, and apply these elements to devise and perform a short Mummers’ Play as an assessment.

Week 1: Introduction to the Characters
Introduces students to Mummers' stock characters through ice-breaker movement games and exaggerated gestures. Students develop characters further using hot-seating and compose their own rhyming couplets to introduce characters.
Resources Include
Resources
Mummers' Plays Information Sheet
Week 2: Structuring the Introduction Sequence
Focuses on an Old Father Christmas introduction for a seasonal Mummers’ Play and on structuring an introduction sequence. Students rehearse addresses to the audience and work on narration to present a clear opening.
Resources Include
Resources
Mummers' Plays Information Sheet
Week 3: Good vs Evil
Explores protagonist and antagonist roles by encouraging physical exaggeration, using the idea of 'superheroes' to push character choices. Activities drive further development of goodie and baddie physicalities and interactions.
Week 4: The Climax
Develops a slapstick fight sequence between St. George and the Turkish Knight, using demonstrated unarmed combat moves. The lesson includes atmospheric music to enhance comedic timing and the fight's comic effect.
Resources Include
Resources
Unarmed Stage Combat Moves
Music
One-eyed Maestro
Week 5: The Falling Action & Dénouement
Covers death and resurrection through magic potions, using slapstick comedy to create humorous denouement moments. Students rehearse the falling action and the resurrection to conclude the play's narrative.
Week 6: Assessment
Assessment lesson asks students to apply the unit's structured process to create and perform their own Mummers’ Play. The piece can be used as an in-class assessment or prepared for a short concert or assembly performance.