Steampunks in Gloucester

A couple of videos have come out from the recent Gloucester steampunk event and I thought people might enjoy them here.

The first one is a film of the Jovial Crew doing a mumming play, This is not a traditional play, but it’s based very much on the kinds of things that go on in traditional ones. The characters mostly relate to Gloucester. Having politics in the mix is very much part of the tradition, and getting into a disguise in order to challenge authority is part of it – although you can plainly see most of the faces of the performers. I wrote this for Robin (in the marvelous tatter coat) based on what he wanted from a script. That’s my fabulous offspring James being the cheese – he’s been the boar in other productions. My lovely Keith is being Beelzebub, and Jessica (in whose band I play) is the inventor of the vacuum cleaner!

This second video is of the parade through the streets. The Gloucester Steampunks are embodying all kinds of midwinter traditions here – mostly from Europe, but not entirely so. Some of us just wear what we fancy. These attract a lot of attention and bring cheer to the streets, it’s a lovely thing to be part of.

This year we paused to re-enact that time a king decided to put a barrel of beer on trial in Gloucester – Keith wrote the script for that and acted as prosecutor. When we got to Mary de Crypt we had a brief Christmas Carol scene. The person who inspired Scrooge is buried in the church.

Living Tradition is really important to me. How we keep traditions alive, honour the past, and celebrate are all really good things to think about. I love being part of this creative community that does such lively, innovative things in honour of local history and tradition. There are some very traditional things going on there – perhaps most importantly the broad – a cow skull traditionally carried by local revelers. We sang a local wassailing song on the Sunday as well.