Ghosts Under the Marquee Lights: Mummers in Alberta, England, and Newfoundland by Mathew James Levitt A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Anthropology University of Alberta ©Mathew James Levitt, 2016 ii Abstract The word “mummer” has been used to describe many different people doing many kinds of things, ranging through both space and time, from at least the 18th century to modern days, from the Old World to the New World. In the past these have conventionally been treated as discrete practices or traditions, too varied to warrant comparison. Intertextual theory, however, suggests that these various instances, or texts, are related. The word “mummer” becomes an activating term, bringing all these texts into a forever occurring discourse. This discourse takes place in a world of made of multiple genres and multimedia; including performances both recorded and remembered, words both written and spoken, fiction, non-fiction, film, internet websites and videos, art and visual imagery. Across all of these, contestations and negotiations take place as ideas about tradition, innovation, identity, authority, and authenticity come into play. This study has focused on three groups of mummers from three different places: The Alberta Avenue Mummers Collective who perform in the Alberta Avenue neighbourhood in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada; The Coventry Mummers from Coventry, West Midlands, England, who also perform in neighbouring villages such as Stoneleigh and Newbold; and Gerald Matthews, a mummer from Baie Verte, Newfoundland. The relationship of these mummers with the places they appear is integral to an understanding of the phenomenon as a whole, often displaying a substantiating affect where practice helps to make place and vice versa. When considered as one phenomenon, the many diverse texts that make up the intertextual discourse explored here reveal traits of the phenomenon that might otherwise be missed or, at the very least, dismissed. For instance, in sites in Alberta, Newfoundland, and England, mumm[er]ing appears as a ritual meant to perpetuate, if nothing else, the ritual itself. There is also a remarkable tendency for merry and scary commentary to stick to mumm[er]ing, thus revealing an uncanniness related to ideas about home and death. iii Preface This thesis is an original work by Mathew James Levitt. The research project, of which this thesis is a part, received research ethics approval from the University of Alberta Research Ethics Board, Project Name “The Mummers' Play Tradition in Coventry, West Midlands, England, and Edmonton, Alberta, Canada”, Study ID Pro00029379, Renewed on 25 January 2016. iv Acknowledgements I would like to give thanks beyond thanks to the mummers that led me down the lanes, bells ringing, and showed me what it was to be a mummer: Ronald Shuttleworth and the Coventry Mummers, Randall Fraser and the Alberta Avenue Mummers Collective, and Gerald Matthews – The Original Last of the Mummers. I also owe much to my supervisor, Dr. Marko Zivkovic. Like a Zen master, he gave me the courage to be my own laughing storyteller. I would like to thank the members of my supervisory committee: Dr. Andie Palmer (Department of Anthropology), Dr. Joseph Hill (Department of Anthropology), Dr. Natasha Hurley (Department of English and Film Studies/Department of Women’s and Gender Studies), Dr. Andriy Nahachewsky (Department of Modern Languages and Cultural Studies), the Chair, Dr. Kisha Supernant (Department of Anthropology), and external reader, Dr. Peter Harrop. Thank you to the University of Alberta, the Government of Canada and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, as well as the Government of Alberta, for the funding that has made this project possible. And finally, my family has listened to me talk about mummers…a lot. Thanks to them. And to my wife, Kirsten, and son, Mickey, thank you for your love and support. Without you I would have no place to go home to and would be quite undone. v Contents Abstract ..................................................................................................................................................... ii Preface ..................................................................................................................................................... iii Acknowledgements .................................................................................................................................. iv List of Figures ........................................................................................................................................... vi List of Plates ............................................................................................................................................ vii Chapter 1. Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 1 A Story for You .......................................................................................................................................... 1 Mummer’s the Word: Mumm[er]ing as an Intertextual Discursive Phenomenon................................... 6 Methodology ........................................................................................................................................... 24 On Interview Transcription ................................................................................................................. 24 On Visual Anthropology ...................................................................................................................... 27 Chapter 2. The Good Ol’ Days ..................................................................................................................... 34 Alberta Avenue: A Small Town in the Big City ........................................................................................ 34 Dem Times in Baie Verte ......................................................................................................................... 50 Merry Old England .................................................................................................................................. 61 Chapter 3. Dead, Gone, and Disappearing .................................................................................................. 64 Alberta Avenue’s Decline ........................................................................................................................ 64 The Mummers Don’t Come Round No More in Baie Verte .................................................................... 70 The Disappearance of the English Mummers ......................................................................................... 74 Chapter 4. Revival and Resurrection ........................................................................................................... 79 The Alberta Avenue Mummers Collective .............................................................................................. 79 The Coventry Mummers ......................................................................................................................... 93 Merry Old England .................................................................................................................................. 97 Newfoundland’s The Mummers Song ................................................................................................... 102 Chapter 5. Doppelgangers and ‘real mummers’ ....................................................................................... 110 Chapter 6. A Traditional Resurrection Ritual? .......................................................................................... 152 Chapter 7. Going Home............................................................................................................................. 197 Chapter 8. Back to Baie Verte: Nightmares in Dreamland........................................................................ 243 The Uncanniness of Mumm[er]ing ....................................................................................................... 256 Epilogue/Epitaph ....................................................................................................................................... 281 vi References ................................................................................................................................................ 285 Appendix ................................................................................................................................................... 293 List of Figures Figure 1. Klein Bottle ................................................................................................................. 158 Figure 2. Mobius Strip ................................................................................................................ 158 vii List of Plates Plate 1. Streetcar at the edge of the city near Alberta Avenue, 1944 ........................................... 36 Plate 2. Milk wagon, Alberta Avenue, 1940 ................................................................................. 36 Plate 3. Borden Park, 1913 ........................................................................................................... 38 Plate 4. The Avenue Theatre during its heyday in 1938 ............................................................... 43 Plate 5. Army