NINE
DAIES MORRIS – AN EPIC JOURNEY RE-ENACTED!
William Kemp was an Elizabethan comic actor and jester and a
colleague of William Shakespeare. In
1599, probably because he fell out with Shakespeare, he left the Lord
Chamberlain's Men (Shakespeare's company) and sold his shares in the Globe
Theatre. The following Lent he set out
to dance from London to Norwich. His
book, published later in 1600, gives us a detailed account of his journey. The title, "Kemps Nine Daies Wonder", is the origin
of the expression a "nine days wonder".
Due to a change in the calendar, the 400th anniversary
fell in 2000. To mark this anniversary,
Kemp’s extraordinary feat was re-enacted during Lent 2000. About 300 dancers from over 50 teams took
part along he way. Most danced at
points along the route but six dancers and two musicians completed, as Kemp did
four hundred years ago, the whole 132 mile distance.
These six dancers included Peter Cole of the Lichfield
Morris Men. They left the
Royal Exchange on Saturday 15 April and arrived in Norwich on 22 April
2000. They followed Kemp's route almost exactly
(except for one diversion made necessary by the M25!).
Lichfield Morris Man
re-enacts extraordinary feat (or
should that be extraordinary feet?!)
Lichfield Morris participant Peter Cole managed the entire
distance despite an achilles tendon injury on only the second day. "Thursday was the worst day" he
said. "At 22 miles Wednesday was
the longest day and we all felt that surviving that would be the most difficult
leg. But Thursday was 20 miles and, on
top of the day before, was quite a test of endurance. The average Morris Dance lasts maybe 2 or 3 minutes, so up to
seven hours a day with relatively short breaks takes some determination!"
"Kemp is still quite a celebrity in East Anglia and the
re-enactment was very well publicised.
It seemed to capture the imagination of the local press and radio and
almost everyone we met seemed to know about what we were doing. This tremendous support along the route was
one of the things that helped keep me going.
That and the thought of the money that was riding on it - I had raised
nearly £2,000 of sponsorship for a local charity, so I'd have crawled to
Norwich if I'd had to!"
You don't have to be able to last 132 miles to join Lichfield
Morris Men! In fact no previous experience is necessary, just contact Lichfield
Morris Men.
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