a comedy with words and
music by
Edward Lambert
with help from the pupils of
Vernham Dean Gillum’s
School, Hampshire
and
William Shakespeare
Featuring
by
John Frederick Lampe (1745)
1 Song:
Puck & Chorus of Scholars Over
hill, over dale
2 Intorduction
& Prayer: Villagers It’s
the year of Our Lord
3 Scene:
London Life There
are crowds of people
4 Chorus
& Dance of Fairies & Goblins (Oberon & Titania) Over
hill, over dale
5 Song:
Scholar (& Oberon) I
know a bank where the wild thyme blows
6 Lullaby:
Fairies & Goblins You
spotted snakes
7 Song
& Dance: Titania, Bottom & Four Fairies What
angel wakes me?
8 Chorus
of Villagers Have
you heard the news?
9 Hermia
& Chorus: Farewell, my
world
Act 2
10 Chorus:
Song & Dance Life
was good
11 Song:
Fairies & Goblins
12 Scene:
The Rainbow Bridge Come
with me
13 Chorus
of Players & Villagers Have
you heard the news?
14 Dumb show: The Seven Ages
of Man
15 Chorus:
What an astonishing turn of the tide!
16 Scene: Pyramus & Thisbe
17 Dance
18 Finale:
All Now
the hungry lion roars
Titania, Fairy Queen
Oberon, Goblin King
Puck, Oberon’s
servant
Four Fairies:
Peaseblossom
Mustardseed Cobweb Moth
Hermia, a Catholic
child
Lysanda, a
Protestant child, daughter to Zachariah
Nick Bottom,
an apprentice weaver; Pyramus in the interlude
Peter Quince,
an apprentice carpenter; Prologue in the interlude
Francis Flute,
an apprentice bellows-mender; Thisbe in the interlude
Tom Snout,
an apprentice tinker; Wall in the interlude
Snug,
an apprentice joiner; Lion in the interlude
Robin Starveling,
an apprentice tailor; Moonshine in the interlude
Brother Zachariah,
village priest and schoolmaster
Isabella
a strolling player, disguised as a man, wife of Zachariah
Hermia’s guardian(s)
Pupils and Scholars at Gillum’s School
as themselves and Village Children
Senior Scholars:
who also play
Queen Elizabeth and Courtiers
Fairies & Goblins
A troupe of strolling
players
as themselves and
The Seven Ages of Man
Prologue - Infant -
Schoolboy - Lover - Soldier - Justice - Pantaloon - Childishness & Oblivion
The Dream That Hath No
Bottom
Act 1
Time: 1590’s. It is a summer evening and the Scholars of Gillum’s
School take a rest
no.1
PUCK
Over hill, over dale,
Thorough bush, thorough briar,
Over park, over pale,
Thorough flood, thorough fire
-
I do wander everywhere
Swifter than the
moon’s sphere,
And I serve the Goblin King,
To pluck sweet tones that we
may sing.
SCHOLARS
Either we mistake your meaning
quite
or else you are that knavish
sprite
called Robin Goodfellow.
PUCK
Good friends, you speak
aright:
I am that merry wanderer of
the night.
Those that
‘Hobgoblin’ call me
And ‘Sweet Puck’,
I do their work,
And they shall have good luck.
(The Scholars discuss a play)
SCHOLAR 1[1]
Let’s write a play.
SCHOLAR 2
What would it be about?
SCHOLAR 3
About us! About our own times!
SCHOLAR 4
What about Queen Elizabeth?
SCHOLAR 5
..we’d have to be careful what we wrote.
SCHOLAR 6
..lots of interesting things like heads getting
chopped off...
SCHOLAR 7
Ideal for a school play!
ALL
Mmmmm.
SCHOLAR 8
There’s the Armada!
SCHOLAR 9
Sounds exciting - we can have a battle!
SCHOLAR 10
With a load of ships? 130 of them!
SCHOLAR 11
Well, it was the event of the century, surely?
SCHOLAR 12
Religion?
SCHOLAR 13
Strong idea, that. The powers that be keep changing
their minds about it.
SCHOLAR 14
Could be rather violent - people have been burned
alive.
SCHOLAR 15
That’d look good on stage!
SCHOLAR 16
There are fire regulations, though.
SCHOLAR 17
I’ve got it! Shakespeare. Why don’t we
just put on one of his plays?
SCHOLAR 18
Hubble, bubble, toil and trouble....
SCHOLAR 19
Of course, witchcraft!
SCHOLAR 20
Who is this fellow Shakespeare anyway?
SCHOLAR 21
Nobody seems to know for sure. Bit sinister, if you
ask me.
SCHOLAR 22
We want to make our own play!
ALL
About ourselves!
SCHOLAR 23
With a bit of adventure... fantasy...
SCHOLAR 24
History, too!
SCHOLAR 25
Everything in fact, all mixed in together!
ALL
If only we could!
PUCK
This class of scholars seems a jolly lot!
I’ll transport them whither they wish to fly.
Puck waves his wand..
And if that makes a seemly play -
All well and good; what care I? (exit)
Village children assemble in a forest.
VILLAGERS
It’s the year of Our
Lord: fifteen-eighty-eight,
the twenty-ninth year in the
reign of Gloriana,
Elizabeth the Queen.
Hail, Good Queen Bess!
Hail, Good Queen Bess!
Long may she thrive!
Now England is in danger,
threatened with invasion
by the enemy, the Spanish,
who’ve set sail to
conquer this land of ours.
With a fleet of mighty
galleons
they approach our shores.
Please, God, our navy will
destroy them!
Protect us all, we pray!
Provide a strong prevailing
wind
to send the Spanish on their
way!
Our fathers joined the
fighting throng:
please spare them any pain!
Bring them safely home, we
beg,
so peace may reign again.
A GROUP
No news?
ANOTHER GROUP
No messages from London.
FIRST GROUP
We’ve heard nothing;
SECOND GROUP
It’s hot.
FIRST GROUP
I’m bored!
ALL
It’s the season of
midsummer madness.
SECOND GROUP
Since that new preacher came
no entertainment’s been allowed.
FIRST GROUP
Brother Zachariah - he’s
so serious. Never smiles.
SECOND GROUP
He wants to purify
people‘s souls.
ALL
Well, we’re too young,
thank you very much.
LYSANDA
That’s my father you’re talking about.
A VILLAGER
People in London are allowed to enjoy themselves. I
went there once.
ANOTHER VILLAGER
What is it like?
no.3
ALL
There are crowds of people
rushing this way and that.
Life is exciting there, the
streets full of sound:
shouting of street cries, horses’ hooves,
clogs on the cobbles, and
church bells echo round.
People come, people go,
London life is all on show!
Gentlemen bowing, doffing hats
to the ladies
Swishing silk and