Mummers’ plays are folk plays performed by troupes of amateur actors, traditionally all male, known as mummers or guisers. Historically, mummers’ plays consisted of informal groups of costumed community members that visited from house to house on various holidays. Today the term refers especially to a play in which a number of characters are called on stage, two of whom engage in a combat, the loser being revived by a doctor character. This play is sometimes found associated with a sword dance t