The Grasmere Dialect Plays were the subject of the most recent University of Cumbria's Cultural Landscape event. The talk was by Sue Wilkinson who has been studying the plays in Wordsworth Grasmere's archive. Sue was ably supported by players from the Lakeland Dialect Society, who brought the plays to life.
The Plays were written by Eleanor Rawnsley, the second wife of Canon Hardwicke Rawnsley, and performed by local villagers in Grasmere Village Hall between 1905 and 1937. Eleanor Rawnsley wrote the plays to preserve the local dialect and customs, as well as "adding to the sum of human happiness".
The Plays were rapturously received, with critics from far and wide writing that the Plays demonstrated "absolute cohesion and realism" and were acted in "the very speech of Wordsworthshire". A Grasmere player commented that Rawnsley "took a turble lot o' care widt dialect" .
Many critics commented on the "verisimilitude" of the Plays, they said that it "felt like the actors were just acting out their everyday lives".
I found this talk so interesting, and it has inspired me to find out more about the Plays and Eleanor Rawnsley. I am particularly interested in the links between the Dialect Plays and the resurgence of the Folk Movement in the early 20th century. As I listened to Sue's talk I found myself thinking of Elsie J Oxenham's passion for folk dancing in the Abbey Girl books, and the passion for nostalgia and rural idyll.