Happy New Year! I had the pleasure of witnessing The Long Company bringing in the new year with their mummers play. It took place at a number of venues over the first weekend in January, and I was lucky enough to catch it at the 400-year-old Old Fleece Inn pub in Elland (rumoured to be the most haunted pub in West Yorkshire...)
The play got underway outside in the pub garden which certainly added to the atmosphere: around sixty of us in the audience huddled around footlights, silent as the bitter wind tried its best to carry off the performers' words. The players were accompanied by a merry band of musicians, also dressed in tatters, and there were some nice zeitgeisty additions, acknowledging Iain Duncan Smith's recent accolade (unbelievable!) and the increased need for food banks, for example. Once good old St George was revived, we all trooped indoors to hear tunes, singers and watch a spot of longsword.
Happy New Year! Here's to 2020!
