SEVENTY three years ago today, the good folk of Bishopthorpe would have been getting themselves into a high old state. A new play, from the pen of Canon Francis Leonard Perkins, the Vicar of Bishop-thorpe, was in the final stages of rehearsal and about to bring to life nearly 2000 years of the village's history.
Entitled simply The Bishopthorpe Play it set out to present, in seven scenes, key moments in the village's life, from the days of the Roman river fort of Acaster to the visit of Queen (then Princess) Victoria in 1835.
At the invitation of the then Archbishop of York, William Temple, villagers were to be allowed to use the grounds and steps of Bishopthorpe Palace for their pageant, to be performed on June 26, 27 and 28, 1928.
"Some scenes will be acted on the Lawn in front of the great Gatehouse, and others on the steps leading up to the Palace - a double setting for an outdoor play which is probably unique," said a forward to the script of the play, published by the Yorkshire Herald and available to members of the public for the princely sum of sixpence.
The same forward describes the difficulties of representing 2000 years of history in a single play.
"Centuries of simple village life are not easy to summarize," it opines.
"Eighty nine Archbishops, all appearing on the scene, however varied in character and costume, would, like Banquo's line, stretch out to the crack of a somewhat depressing doom. The play omits, frankly, as many of them as it can. It concentrates on a few scenes, each of which may serve to represent an epoch in the life of an English village, and a development in the growth of that English character which is for every one both an asset and an obligation."
It was an ambitious undertaking - but one which Canon Perkins was clearly equal to. The text of his Bishopthorpe Play has stood the test of time and went on to form the basis of the Bishopthorpe Pageant, staged most recently in the grounds of the Palace in July last year.
There have had to be revisions, of course. The original play was very much a text of its time. The prologue - long since dropped from the pageant - sees Jane Acaster, an American, calling on the Archbishop of York and being received by his niece, Dora Bishopthorpe. The date, naturally enough, is 1928.
"Uncle is out, but he'll be back for tea," says Dora. "You'll stay, won't you?"
"What a corking idea!" replies Jane.
It's not long before Dora's cousin, Jack Anarchy, arrives. Jack's an Oxford undergraduate who's been 'sent down' - expelled - because of a lark.
"Just for a rag, a cursed rag," he says. "It was supposed to be a Labour rag."
"Labour?" says Dora, shocked. "Are you Labour? Do you mean you are Red?"
"All the best lot at Oxford are Labour now," says Jack airily.
It's not long, however, before the play moves away from the dangerous territory of revolutionary 1928 politics to the surer ground of Roman Acaster in 211 AD - and the pageant is up and away.
It is thanks to York architect Tom Adams that Yesterday Once More has come into possession of a copy of the original script to The Bishopthorpe Play.
It's a fragile document, the browning pages filled with advertisements for Wright's, of Market Street, York (Absolute Value at Low Cost) and S Border and Co Ltd of Coney Street (The House of Quality).
Tom, who took part in two pageants himself - probably, he thinks, the ones staged in 1956 and 1965 - uncovered the slim pamphlet while rummaging through the odds and ends accumulated during an eventful life. He himself didn't take part in the original play, of course, but believes it may have been passed on to him by Charlie Dodsworth, who produced the pageant four times in 1954, 1956, 1965 and 1970. It has been staged seven times in all.
But it is to Linda Haywood of the Bishopthorpe Local History Group that we're indebted for the photographs of early productions of the play reproduced here.
The photographs were given to Linda for her archives by the village school, which acquired them while producing its booklet Bishopthorpe Remembered.
Linda believes the one which shows a pageant on the steps of Bishopthorpe Palace was taken at the second performance of the play, in 1930.
By then, an eighth scene had been added to the original, depicting the day in 1832 when a mob of 1,500 people descended on the palace to protest about the then Archbishop of York Edward Vernon Harcourt's apparent opposition to the Reform Bill, which would have extended the vote to all adult men who owned property worth £10 or more.
The mob, many armed with sticks, stakes, pitchforks and other weapons, threatened to storm the palace. The angry 'mob' on the steps in the picture, Linda says, are wearing clothes from the right period and appear to be armed with sticks and even rifles.
The other pictures, she believes, are from the original 1928 production. They show a Mr and Mrs WJ Simpson, he dressed as a court jester. They were most likely part of the scene depicting the visit of Charles I to Bishopthorpe, Linda believes.
A third photograph depicts adults and children, many dressed in primitive skins. This, Linda believes, was probably from Scene Two in the original play - Thorpe on Ouse in 630AD. The final photograph is possibly from the original Scene Four - the trial of Cardinal Wolsey, Archbishop of York, in 1530.
The local history group, of which Linda is chair, is preparing a computerised archive of village history which will be on display in the village library. She is keen to hear from anyone who may know more about any of these photographs, the history of the Bishopthorpe Pageant, or any other aspect of Bishopthorpe's history. Contact her on 01904 704584.
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