INDEX arts
Canterbury’s Fight For Christmas
hese days we may groan at the thought of the yearly Christmas chaos, but 350 years ago England came very close to not having a Christmas at all… Liz Norton explains. Christmas in the 17th
T
Century was very much like it is today: people exchanged gifts, ate lavish meals and decorated their houses, whilst businesses remained closed every December 25th. However, as is often the case now, people had a tendency to get ‘out of hand’. With wine fl owing and acceptable behaviour temporarily redefi ned, Christmas often descended into debauchery and even violence, with little thought given to religion once the morning church services had ended. Keen to bring piety back to the festival, the protestant government of the 1640s set about establishing Christmas as a day of fasting and prayer and when Oliver Cromwell gained prominence in political circles, he became their perfect ally,
enforcing an act of Parliament that effectively ‘banned’ Christmas in 1644. The ban was enforced from 1642 to 1660 and nowhere more so than in London, where Cromwell dispatched offi cials to ensure ‘proper’ behaviour. However despite, or
possibly because of, the extra attention paid to upholding the law in London, it was the people of Canterbury who chose to make a stand against Cromwell’s Parliamentary ‘Scrooges’.
On Christmas Day 1647
a large crowd gathered in Canterbury to demand the reinstitution of church services and the closure of shops and businesses for the day. In a situation that may now seem familiar the protests descended into violence and riots broke out. The rioters kept control of the city for several weeks although, rather than looting, they took to decorating the doorways of the city’s businesses with holly in protest. They were forced to
abandon their cause in January 1648 but had paved the way for a surge of Royalist support throughout the county by adopting the slogan “For
God, King Charles and Kent” By the following summer, large parts of the county were involved in the Second Civil War, which ultimately resulted in the Restoration of the monarchy, and of the celebration of Christmas. Eventually, despite the
associated ‘festive carnage’ of the Christmas period, it seems that the majority of English citizens were extremely glad to see its return.
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We’ll start off with The Playhouse, Whitstable’s offering of Treasure Island, with the classic Stevenson novel getting a panto make over and an extra dose of silliness.
This post-Christmas
production is perfectly timed to cheer up those of you who are suffering from festive fatigue. It runs from the 24 January to the 4 February and tickets are £9.50 and can be bought from
www.playhousewhitstable.
co.uk.
For something a little
sooner, The Theatre Royal in Margate is putting on a singing and dancing version of Hansel and Gretel. See the classic tale of revenge on an evil step-mother (boo, hiss!) with the added bonus of woodland friends and some very large, sweet architecture. This show runs from 8 to 31 December and tickets are between £10- £16. You can book tickets now on
www.theatre
royalmargate.com. In Herne Bay,
Jack and The Beanstalk runs from 12 to 15 January 2012 at The Kings Hall. And fi nally the Marlowe’s contribution this year is the story of Cinderella, and the celebrities they’ve racked up include The Xtra Factor’s Steve Mulhern and Eastenders’ John Partridge as well as Kentish comedian Dave Lee. Expect lots of high octane frivolity and lots of bright and loud special effects.
The show runs from 2 December all the way through to 22 January with evening and matinee performances almost every day.
The tickets are between £10 and £22.50.
Please check the Marlowe website for full dates and times –
www.marlowetheatre.com. And don’t forget to be home by midnight.
Point to the
It wouldn’t feel like Christmas without
panto
men prancing about in tights, booing strangers and shouting ‘he’s behind you’! so a trip to the pantomime is on the cards for Katie Turrell
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