Pageant of Lewes Priory
Pageant type
Performances
Place: Southover Church (Lewes) (Lewes, Sussex, England)
Year: 1972
Indoors/outdoors: Indoors
Number of performances: 4
Notes
13–15 and 17–18 July 1972
[Performances were held at 7.30pm]
Name of pageant master and other named staff
- Production [Pageant Master]: Drake, Jill
- Presented by: Lewes Publicity Society
- Lighting: Frank Rickelter
- Staging: Lewes Little Theatre
- Sound Equipment: Lewes Rotary Club
- Costumes: Arranged by Miss Drake,
assistance from Lewes Little Theatre and Lewes Operatic Society
- Performed by: Pupils of Lewes Priory
(Upper) School
Names of executive committee or equivalent
n/a
Names of script-writer(s) and other credited author(s)
Names of composers
n/a
Numbers of performers
27Financial information
n/a
Object of any funds raised
Proceeds towards the church funds
Linked occasion
n/a
Audience information
- Grandstand: Not Known
- Grandstand capacity: n/a
- Total audience: 600 - 800
Notes
The church held a total of 200 people per performance and there was a good attendance.
Prices of admission and seats: highest–lowest
Free.
[Admission was free, but there was a retiring collection.]
Associated events
Lewes Festival
Pageant outline
Prologue
Opening music and then the narrator, Flint, ‘a lump of stone’, introduces the first scene.
Scene I.
1070. Earl de Warenne founds the priory; he discusses with De Lanzo the strained relations between church and state.
Scene II.
Archbishop of Canterbury John Pecham visits the Priory
Scene III.
A messenger from Simon de Montfort arrives at the Priory where Henry II is staying, criticizing the latter’s advisers. Prince Edward is angered by this and war is certain.
Scene IV.
The Battle of Lewes as seen from the Priory
Scene V.
The dissolution of the Priory under Henry VIII and Thomas Cromwell.
Key historical figures mentioned
- Warenne, William (I) de, first earl of Surrey
[Earl Warenne] (d. 1088) magnate
- Pecham [Peckham], John (c.1230–1292) archbishop
of Canterbury
- Henry III (1207–1272) king of England
and lord of Ireland, and duke of Aquitaine
- Edward I (1239–1307) king of England
and lord of Ireland, and duke of Aquitaine
Musical production
n/a
Newspaper coverage of pageant
n/a
Book of words
- None noted
Other primary published materials
- Pageant of Lewes Priory, at Southover Church 1972. Lewes, 1972.
References in secondary literature
n/a
Archival holdings connected to pageant
- Sussex Records Office, Minutes of Lewes Publicity Association, 1972, Reference, DL/D/7/6
Sources used in preparation of pageant
n/a
Summary
The pageant was part of the 1972 Lewes Festival. It was also referred to as Son Et Lumiere and A Pageant of Light, Sound and Mime, relying heavily on a recorded commentary, musical and lighting effects. It seems that the pupils of Lewes Priory (Upper) School formed the bulk of the cast. The narrative centres wholly on the Priory, from its foundation in 1070 to its dissolution in the reign of Henry VIII. A subsequent pageant was held in 1976.
Footnotes
How to cite this entry
Angela Bartie, Linda Fleming, Mark Freeman, Tom Hulme, Alex Hutton, Paul Readman, ‘Pageant of Lewes Priory’, The Redress of the Past, http://www.historicalpageants.ac.uk/pageants/1458/