The White Boys (Manx: Ny Guillyn Baney) is the traditional mummers' play of the Isle of Man.
The play and its actors are named because of the unusual white clothing they wear. The play is traditionally performed in public places close to Christmas, and it concerns knights fighting and killing one another before being resurrected by a doctor, after which there is a song and a dance. Historical scripts date back as far as 1832, and it is still performed on Manx streets each year.
History
Nineteenth Century The earliest known record of the White Boys dates to 1832, when a full version of the play by 'the Douglas White Boys' was printed in the Manx Sun newspaper. The first eyewitness account of a performance is from 1838, when it was said that:'Rambles in the Isle of Man' Manx Sun, 3 January 1840, reproduced in Miller 2010, pp. 1–2For several nights before Christmas, it is customary for boys, dressed in white [...] to perambulate the streets [...] and solicit contribution at the various dwellingsAt this time, the White Boys were considered to be, alongside Hunt the Wren and the Fiddlers,'Old Customs' Manx Sun, 27 December 1851, reproduced in Miller 2010, pp. 2–3 'amongst the most popular amusements of Christmas,'William Harrison, 'The White Boys' in Mona Miscellany: A Selection of Proverbs, Sayings, Ballads, Customs, Superstitions, and Legends peculiar to the Isle of Man, Manx Society, vol. xvi, Douglas: Manx Society, 1869, reproduced in Miller 2010, pp. 2–3 with their strength remaining 'untouched by the enervating hands of time and change.'
Boys or young men visited houses in the local community to perform the play in the late afternoon or early evening in the lead-up to Christmas. They would knock on doors and call out 'Who wants to see the White Boys act?'Joseph Train, An Historical and Statistical Account of the Isle of Man, vol. ii, Douglas: Mary A. Quaggin, 1845, p.127, reproduced in Miller 2010, pp. 4–5 before the actors would be invited into homes. The play would normally be performed in either the sitting roomA. Clarke, Folk Life Survey, 1959, MNHL, MXMUS FLS, c/98 c, reproduced in Miller 2010, pp. 46–47 or in the kitchen, where it was conventionally enjoyed by the whole household.Norma Lorimer, 'Some Christmas Customs in the Isle of Man' The Queen, the Lady's Newspaper and Court Chronicle, 1 January 1898, reproduced in Miller 2010, pp. 15–16
The performances were described as being 'a rude comical drama, half verse, and half prose run-mad,' often delivered in a 'hurried manner and the burlesque intonations of the speakers,' making it 'of all oddities the most odd.'Colonel Johnson, 'Popular Customs & Superstitions' in Fargher's Standard Edition of Jefferson's Northern and Central Almanack [...] for the year 1853, Douglas: Robert Fargher, 1852, pp. 1–11, reproduced in Miller 2010, pp. 6–7 However, it remained entirely compelling with eye-witnesses noting that 'the excitement attached to the "White Boys” can scarcely be imagined,' and 'the greatest actor in all the world could not have charmed us half so much.'Agnes Herbert, The Isle of Man, London: John Lane, 1909, pp. 201–203, reproduced in Miller 2010, pp. 16–18
After the conclusion of the performance, the actors would receive their unnysup (the 'deserving'); a donation in thanks for the entertainment. This was reported as being generally quite generous.John Comaish, Folk Life Survey Interview 1950-55, MNHL, MXMUS FLS, CJ-J, reproduced in Miller 2010, pp. 46 Money was expected but many households also offered food and drink:[The White Boys] are not averse to the pennies; but if solids are not to be had, they readily put up with liquids, in shape of gin, or even Jough, alias Manx beer. The White Boys were known all over the Isle of Man, including the following: Andreas, Arbory, Ballabeg, Ballaragh, Ballaugh, Castletown, Douglas, Glen Auldyn, Glenchass, Jurby, Laxey, Lezayre, The Lhen, Maughold, Kirk Michael, Peel, Port Erin, Ramsey and Sulby. Many individual houses and inns are also known to have been visited.
1890s to 1950s By the end of the 19th century, the practice was reported as 'formerly common, [but] now almost moribund.'A. W. Moore, The Folk-lore of the Isle of Man, Douglas & London: David and Son & David Nutt, 1891, p. 128, reproduced in Miller 2010, pp. 12–13 By this stage the doctor's role was taken by the smallest person of the group, most commonly a young boy.Charles Watterson, Folk Life Survey, 1950, MNHL, MXMUS FLS WC-A, reproduced in Miller 2010, pp. 46–47 This was remarkable when the group incorporated drinking into their activities, and the Doctor was therefore sometimes left at a friend's house as pubs were visited.Thomas & Robert Cormode, Folk Life Survey, 1971, MNHL, MXMUS FLS c/265, reproduced in Miller 2010, pp. 49–51
The White Boys were adversely affected by the outbreak of the First World War. For instance, the previously popular and successful White Boys of Ramsey ceased after December 1913 and were not able to restart due to the introduction of a £5 Street Traders licence. The White Boys in Castletown continued until at least 1931, when young boys of about 10 years old were performed the play.George Freestone, "I was St. Valentine": Interview (2009), reproduced in Miller 2010, pp. 77–85
From the 1910s Mona Douglas and Phillip Leighton Stowell were working to collect the dance believed to have been performed at the play's conclusion. It was through this that the play was revived and presented by boys from Castletown at a public entertainment in January 1939.''White Boys' at Manx Museum,' Isle of Man Daily Times, 10 January 1939, reproduced in Miller 2010, p. 25
The play received some institutional support over this period, such as from the church, through the Ballabeg Sunday School in the 1900sMr & Mrs Comish, MNHL MXMUS FLS C/86 C, reproduced in Miller 2010, p. 49 and the Young Men's Club of a church in Peel in the early 20th century.Fred Palmer, MNHL MXMUS FLS P/1 H, reproduced in Miller 2010, p. 54 Schools such as Ballamoda in 1934 and Ballasalla School in 1951 also began to stage the play, and Arbory School played a particularly important role in the play's living survival by producing it within the school for decades, from as early as 1943 through to the 1970s and beyond.Leighton Stowell, Folk Life Survey, 1971, MNH MXMUS FLS S/38, reproduced in Miller 2010, 2010, pp. 164–166
Although not well documented, the White Boys also continued to be performed in some form in Port Erin until at least 1950.
1970s to present
In 1975 the play was independently revived for public performance by Ross Trench-Jellicoe, Colin Jerry, Bob Carswell, David Fisher, Ian Coulson, Stewart Bennett, George Broderick, Phil Gorry and Mark Shimmin.Colin Messer 'The White Boys dance (sometimes known as the Manx sword dance)', Rattle Up Boys 12.3 (2003), reproduced in Miller 2010, pp. 151–157 As members of the Manx dance group, Bock Yuan Fannee, they had originally planned to perform the dance only and only later came to prepare the play also. Although a complete rewrite of the play was prepared by Stewart Bennett to address contemporary politics, the version eventually performed was an amalgamation of the 1832 and 1845 versions, with other slight additions. On the last Saturday before Christmas 1975 they performed the play concluding with the sword dance at fourteen locations all over the Isle of Man.
The script developed for these performances was published in 1983 in the book of Manx dances, Rinkaghyn Vannin. Here it appeared with music and full instructions for the White Boys Dance.
The play continued to be performed on the streets of the Isle of Man for 31 years by a changing set of actors connected to Bock Yuan Fannee. True to the tradition, the play was adapted to contemporary interests and concerns, most notably with a complete rewrite in the 1990s which replaced the characters of the play with Sir MHK, Sir Banker, Sir Cherished Number Salesman, Sir Expert and Estate Agent. The final recorded performance by members of Bock Yuan Fannee was in Peel in 2007.
In 2010 a book on the White Boys compiled and edited by Stephen Miller was published by Chiollagh Books; "Who wants to see the White Boys act?" The Mumming Play in the Isle of Man: A Compendium of Sources. One review called it 'a comprehensive collection' with 'erudite and perceptive' accompanying notes.
Although the White Boys Dance continued to be regularly performed, particularly by Perree Bane and Skeddan Jiarg, the play was performed only intermittently in the 2010s, such as in an abridged form at the Bree Weekend in 2016.
In December 2019 the play returned to the Island's streets in the two weekends before Christmas. Performed by two independent groups, the play was put on in Port St. Mary, Port Erin, Colby, Ramsey, Castletown (twice), Peel (twice) and Douglas (four times). The group performing on 21 December presented a new version of the traditional play which playfully reassigned the heroic knight as the recognisably Manx St. Maughold, and the antagonist as St. George. Two groups of performers have performed the play around the Island in the run-in to Christmas each year since then.
Plot and variations
There are six historical White Boys scripts. Although all vary from one another, the dominant core of the narrative is as follows:
A short introduction of the drama is followed by the entrance of the patriarch character, who introduces the hero (normally St. George). An antagonist then enters and proceeds to kill the hero in a fight. The patriarch calls for help and an aid enters to fight the antagonist on his behalf. After the antagonist is killed, the patriarch calls for a doctor, who enters to revive the two dead men. When the combatants rise and begin to fight again, the patriarch steps in to stop them. Then there is a song, an argument about who is to pay the doctor, and a dance.
As was noted in 1869, the traditional approach to the play is to vary or adapt it in performance:
The plot everywhere seems to be pretty nearly the same; scarcely any two sets of performers render it alike, constantly mixing up extraneous matter, often of a local nature, and frequently allusive to the passing events of the day, making the confusion of character in all the versions very great.
This is evident in the varying characters involved in the historical scripts: +Characters in the historical White Boys scriptsDate collectedIntroducerPatriarchHeroAntagonistAidDoctorMoney collectorOther1832St. GeorgeSt. DenisSt. PatrickDoctor1845(Sambo)King of EgyptSt. GeorgePrince ValentineSamboDoctor1890s?(All)King of DenmarkKing GeorgePrince ValentineMac ManDoctorSamboGirlc.1907-10*(Doctor)King GeorgeSt. GeorgePrince ValentineDoctor1950(Turk)King of EgyptSt. GeorgeTurkPageDoctor1983SamsonKing of EgyptSt. GeorgeTurkDoctorBelgium Bum* Partial text In addition to these characters, references to the play beyond the available scripts show that Beelzebub, Devil Doubt, King and Turkish Champion were also present in other versions of the play.
The 1890s script is notable for the appearance of a girl interrupting the first fight to offer wine to the combatants. As well as this speaking role, this script also unusually has a cast list, which pairs each of the male parts with a female role; Queen, two Princesses and two Maids.
The modern variations of the script also reflect the historic variance of characters: +Characters in the modern White Boys scriptsDateIntroducerPatriarchHeroAntagonistAidDoctorMoney collectorOther1983[Prologue]St. GeorgeSt. DenisSt. PatrickDoctorBig Head Little Devil Doubt1990[Prologue]Sir MHKSir BankerSir Cherished Number Salesman Estate AgentDoctor1999[Prologue]Sir MHKSir BankerSir Expert Estate AgentDoctor2019Devil DoubtSt. PatrickSt. MaugholdSt. GeorgeMac ManDoctor