CARNIVAL What do the images have in common?

RIO, PADSTOW, MINEHEAD, BRIDGEWATER,PEWSEY

FLINTOCK IS BASED ON PEWSEY

Carnival can be a pagan festival to celebrate the coming of the new year

Mardi Gras is now part of the Christian calendar to celebrate excess before the period of fasting that is Lent.

A licence for misrule Pagan Spring Festivals Origin of Padstow ‘Obby ‘Oss can be traced to pre-

Christian times Padstow “morning song” is used in the play: “Unite

and Unite…” Sexual union is seen as part of the explosion of Spring

and celebrates fertility. The ‘Oss wasrebranded to represent George and the

Dragon The ‘Oss is killed to indicate the death of the old year. A continuing cycle of creation and death Celebrated in Johnny’s incantation of his forebears?

Adapted over time Christianity encourages such fertility

revels to change Linked to Church events As religion relaxed its hold on society in

Britain, paganism returned A new paganism emerged based on

shallow materialism and popular culture

Flintock changes “It’s shit on toast” “There’s a Lord of the Rings float…

There’s a George and Dragon, Men in Black II. Crown and Goose have gone X factor. Same as last year…”

“It’s the brewery’s idea” “How long’s the Flintock men been

going? / Six weeks”

Every revel must have a leader Contrast: May Queen: A pubescent

local girl; sexualised and presented to the onlookers for delectation

The Green Man – the pagan Lord of Misrule

Misrule Flintock Sponsored by business Low level copies of

modern spiritualism Transvestism and

racism Alcohol and drug

fuelled Links to 1940 and last

great threat to the Island

Rooster’s Wood Flagrant threat to

authority The individual is freed

to behave as he/she wishes

Drug and alcohol fuelled Some evidence of

mystical power shown Attempts to link to a

distant pre-history Destructive and violent

Johnny as ruler Snatches of old songs are sung – trying to

reconnect? Destroys TV before play – symbol of a

dying society (Winter) Clear terms of reference deep roots in the

festival: St George, Titania and fairies, Oden, Gog and Magog, Jack of Green.

English heritage is held up against modern England.

Johnny as destroyer of the old year P52 “Make merry. For tonight like a flaming flock of

snakes, we will storm Flintock Village and burn every house, shop and farm. We will behead the mayor. Imprison the Rotary club. Pillage the pubs! Rob the tombola! And whip into a whirlwind a roughhead army of unwashed, unstable, unhinged, friendless, penniless, baffled beserkers what haunt that Godforsaken town, and together, snout by jowl, we will rise up and ride on Salisbury, Marlborough, Devizes, Calne, until the whole plain of Wiltshire dances to the tune of our misrule.”

Such language Short, sharp imperatives 1st person plural for inclusion Triplets – “Pillage the pubs” is most important and

receives the first exclamation mark Long sentence to conclude as passion supplants

authority Use of alliteration and negative prefixes Animal imagery – “snout by jowl” Whole plain of Wiltshire – the archaic world was

small, as is Johnny’s (NB p101 Phaedra sees the inherent irony in this)

Dichotomy Carnival looks both forward and back Destruction is at heart of rebirth Life will follow death and Spring will follow Winter Johnny leads the revels and pollutes society NB from a village perspective the wish to evict Johnny

can be justified with ease: P30 Davey Johnny is a total outcast from the village but hold court in

the forest for the next generation (literally) Johnny is pained by his position as scapegoat – p97

“Okay, stop….I said stop. Enough. SILENCE” Johnny despises all that is based on business (who gets

the kickbacks?” yet is a successful “business man”.