The Day Before Yesterday: A Pageant of Wivenhoe History
Pageant type
Performances
Place: St Mary's Church (Wivenhoe) (Wivenhoe, Essex, England)
Year: 1987
Indoors/outdoors: Indoors
Number of performances: 5
Notes
9–13 June 1987, at 8pm
Name of pageant master and other named staff
- Director [Pageant Master]: Forster,
Sheila
- Technical Director: David Sleightholm
- Musical Director: Alistair Berwick
- Wardrobe Supervisor: Roger Tonks
- Wardrobe Assistant: Marcelle Williamson
- Production Manager: Jane Cole
- Stage Managers: Pat Reid and Jennie
Gladwin
- Assistant Stage Manager: Angie Reid
- Publicity: Ann Quarrie
- Fund-Raising: Georgina Percivall
- Poster Design: Barry Woodcock
- Costume Sewers: Irene Appleton and Ethel
Gosney
- Dresser: Liz Pollard
- Make-up: Rosaleen Clarke
Names of executive committee or equivalent
n/a
Names of script-writer(s) and other credited author(s)
Close, Robin
Names of composers
n/a
Numbers of performers
50Financial information
n/a
Object of any funds raised
n/a
Linked occasion
n/a
Audience information
Prices of admission and seats: highest–lowest
n/a
Associated events
n/a
Pageant outline
1360.
Rector Arrives. John de Prestenhaye greets his parishioners
1391.
Cobbe Goes Poaching – a later rector, John Cobbe
1485.
Elizabeth Scroope is 14—she prepares for her marriage to William Beaumont
1507.
Now Elizabeth Beaumont is a widow, she is courted by the Earl of Oxford, John de Vere
1537.
Elizabeth de Vere nears the end of her life
1572.
John and Peter Gray make public apology to the churchwardens
1586.
Sir Roger Townsend buys the Manor of Wivenhoe
1603.
Plague! The Black Death strikes Wivenhoe
1750.
The Spa Baths—taking the water in Bath Street
1799.
The Workhouse Master—the new master gains concessions
19th Century.
a) The Churchwardens’ duty
b) Philip Sainty—the famous boatbuilder’s colourful life
1820.
George Brummell—the famous ‘Beau’s’ brother joins the vestry
1850.
Sarah Hockley—the darker side of life
1856.
The Boiler Bursts at William Browne’s Rope Factory
Interlude
The Church through the ages
1863
The Railway—Wivenhoe’s first train arrives
1865
Streams of living water—the need for a clean water supply
1884
The Earthquake
Key historical figures mentioned
- Vere, John de, thirteenth earl of Oxford
(1442–1513) magnate
- Townshend, Sir Roger (c.1544–1590) courtier
Musical production
Organist and Recorder ensemble
Newspaper coverage of pageant
n/a
Book of words
- None known
Other primary published materials
- The Day Before Yesterday: A Pageant of Wivenhoe History 1360-1884. Wivenhoe, 1987.
References in secondary literature
n/a
Archival holdings connected to pageant
- Information on the Pageant, including images of the programme and photographs from the pageant available at ‘A Pageant of Wivenhoe History 1360-1884’, Wivenhoe’s History, accessed 28 November 2016, http://www.wivenhoehistory.org.uk/content/new-contributions/a-pageant-of-wivenhoe-history-1360-1884
Sources used in preparation of pageant
n/a
Summary
The Wivenhoe Pageant was based on material in a local history pamphlet by Olive Whaley, with a script written by Robin Close. Involving around fifty performers, it was a relatively small-scale affair in comparison with those pageants staged during the heyday of the movement. But as events such as these demonstrate, the pageant form was not unknown to the local historical—and performative—cultures of the late twentieth century. The focus of the narrative was very much the history of the place, with the church looming large in the story throughout. Costumes for the performances were acquired from a West End Theatre.1
Footnotes
1. ^ Jane Cole, ‘A Pageant of Wivenhoe History 1360-1884’, Wivenhoe’s History, accessed 28 November 2016, http://www.wivenhoehistory.org.uk/content/new-contributions/a-pageant-of-wivenhoe-history-1360-1884
How to cite this entry
Angela Bartie, Linda Fleming, Mark Freeman, Tom Hulme, Alex Hutton, Paul Readman, ‘The Day Before Yesterday: A Pageant of Wivenhoe History’, The Redress of the Past, http://www.historicalpageants.ac.uk/pageants/1382/