Shute Historical Pageant
Other names
- Scenes from the History of Shute
Pageant type
Performances
Place: Shute School (Shute) (Shute, Devon, England)
Year: 1936
Indoors/outdoors: Indoors
Number of performances: n/a
Notes
July 1936
Name of pageant master and other named staff
Names of executive committee or equivalent
n/a
Names of script-writer(s) and other credited author(s)
Names of composers
n/a
Numbers of performers
n/a
Financial information
n/a
Object of any funds raised
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Linked occasion
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Audience information
Prices of admission and seats: highest–lowest
n/a
Associated events
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Pageant outline
Prologue 1609.
The antiquary Sir William Pole offers Lord Petre his ‘Collections’. After Petre’s departure, he tells his children the story of Shute to his grandchildren.
Episode I. The Christening of William Bonville
Episode II. Sir Richard Whittington collects the rents of Shute
Episode III.
The Archery Contest between King Henry VII and his host, the Marquis of Dorset
Episode IV. Lady Jane Grey becomes Queen of England
Interlude. The Present Day
Children play on the lawn and two write scenes for a pageant. The spirit of Lady Walk enters and charms them asleep.
Episode V. The Seventeenth Century.
Charles II escapes to Colcombe.
Episode VI. The Eighteenth Century.
Why Shute House Was Built.
Episode VII. The Eighteenth Century
Shute House is built.
Episode VIII. The Coming of Age of John George Revve de la Pole
Episode IX. Present Day.
Wood sprites wake the sleeping children
School Song and God Save the King
Key historical figures mentioned
- Pole, Sir William (bap. 1561, d. 1635)
antiquary
- Bonville, William, first Baron Bonville
(1392–1461) administrator and landowner
- Henry VII (1457–1509) king of England
and lord of Ireland
- Grey, Thomas, first marquess of Dorset
(c.1455–1501) courtier
- Grey [married name Dudley], Lady Jane
(1537–1554) noblewoman and claimant to the English throne
- Charles II (1630–1685) king of
England, Scotland, and Ireland
Musical production
n/a
Newspaper coverage of pageant
n/a
Book of words
n/a
Other primary published materials
- Shute historical Pageant, compiled and presented by the pupils of Shute School. Shute, 1936.
References in secondary literature
n/a
Archival holdings connected to pageant
- Copy of Programme in Devon Heritage Centre, Exeter, Reference 7499M/F/5/1
Sources used in preparation of pageant
n/a
Summary
This is an example of a pageant put on by a school. Staged at Shute School, Devon, in July 1936, the pageant seems to have been devised as well as performed by the pupils themselves (though one must assume that they received considerable help from their teachers). Indeed, the interlude actually featured a dramatization of the children writing two of the scenes for the pageant. The focus of the pageant is squarely local, with connections to national and especially royal figures being stressed. It was likely a success, and was repeated in July 1947.
Footnotes
How to cite this entry
Angela Bartie, Linda Fleming, Mark Freeman, Tom Hulme, Alex Hutton, Paul Readman, ‘Shute Historical Pageant’, The Redress of the Past, http://www.historicalpageants.ac.uk/pageants/1461/