St. George and The Dragon

One of the classic Christmas traditions in Merrie Olde England was the Saint George Play, of which many scripts still exist. The idea was to get together with a few rowdy friends, work up a rhyming play based on the legendary St. George, put on whatever costumes you could scrounge, go to various houses, perform your play, then ask for refreshments or possibly money. One might expect that such plays grew sillier as the night progressed and wassail flowed freely.

The legend concerns the fearless St. George, who slew a dragon to in the beautiful Princess Sabra. The general thrust of the play is that St. George fights the dragon, is killed, then resurrected by a doctor to slay the beast in a second match. However, other opponents come forward to fight him,so the formula is played out again and again.

Our version of the old formula takes a bit of a turn, since the puppets grow tipsy as the play progresses, and much nuttiness ensues.