Comberbach Soulcake Play

Soulcake plays were very common throughout Cheshire in the early part of the 20th century but gradually died out during the latter part. Prior to it's revival in the village, the last performance of the Comberbach play was just after the Second World War. When it was revived we were lucky enough to have one of the surviving performers join us. The play was collected by Major Boyd, a local historian, and published in his book "A Country Parish" in 1951 by Collins. The book includes a text of the play as well as several photographs and is sought after by members of our team.

 

The play follows the theme of other mumming plays in that there is a battle (between King George and The Black Prince). This results in the 'death' of the Prince who is revived by the Quack Doctor. In between this is a lot of scripted and ad-lib comedy. What makes the Soulcaking Play different is the appearance of the Wild Horse (Dick) who's Driver performs a nonsense poem about the local area. It is usually this part of the play that distinguishes one village's version from another. Indeed Antrobus (just 2.5 miles from Comberbach) also have a Soulcaking team that perform at the same time of year. Their play is virtually identical up to the entrance of Dick - it then differs dramatically.  Performance styles also differ from village to village.

 

Dick is made from the skull of a horse mounted on a stout pole with sacking to cover the performer. Dick is usually the star of the show. It's a non-speaking part which demands a great amount of physical energy to make the horse come-alive. In years gone by rival gangs (e.g. Comberbach and Antrobus) would attempt to steal each others horse. We are much more civilised now - nearly.

 

Like most mumming plays The Soulcaking Play was usually performed as a means of begging food / money. Originally our play would have been performed by the local hired farm labourers, just having been laid-off after the harvest had been gathered in. These labourers would travel from farm house to farm house and perform the play for the farmers in return for food and money. There is a theory that the use of disguise was to prevent recognition but it seems unlikely that the local farmers would not recognise some of their workforce. My mother-in-law, a farmer in Antrobus, remembers the Antrobus 'gang' performing in her mother's farm when she was a child. This would have been just before the Second World War. Today we perform in local pubs and collect money for local charities. In return we provide people with Soul Cakes - a simple biscuit which are hand made by the team members. Once tasted - never forgotten. We have had great fun in raising several thousand pounds over the years.

 

Over the recent year there has been a steady growth in the number of  teams, in Cheshire, that perform a soulcaking play. This is a trend to be both encouraged and welcomed.