Pace Egg Preview

It’s that time of year again when the Calder Valley tradition of the Pace Egg play lives on and entertains hundreds of people throughout the Calder Valley. The students of Calder High School, will once again dust off their Pace Egging hats on Good Friday, 10th April, to perform all day long throughout the Calder Valley. The Midgley Pace Egg play is an old tradition within Calder High School, and has been performed by the school for many years now. The Pace Egg is based on the oldest play in the world, The Mummers Play.

The story is based around Saint George's triumphs and the whole play boasts his great champion status. Throughout the performance three challengers try to defeat Saint George (Bold Slasher, Black Prince of Paradine and Hector), who is a very cocky and mighty character. The play consists of eight characters, which this year was again made available to all ages, due to the school’s excessive range of performing talent. As always, it is an all boys cast due to the ancient traditions of the play.
The auditions took place in front of a panel of experienced Pace Eggers who had the necessary knowledge to identify the sort of raw talent the Pace Egg needed. For the auditionee to get the nod from the audition panel they had to recite the part of Saint George as well as an unscripted performance of their own choosing. The auditionee also had to show their passion and interest in the Pace Egg itself and explain why they would like to be part of it. The lucky six successful auditionees will experience performing the oldest play in the world, performing to a wide variety of people throughout the Calder Valley and will get to make the performance their own by working outside of the usual performance boundaries.

This year’s cast will be - Billy Painter, The Fool, Johnny McQuade, Bold Slasher, Joachim Goddard, The Doctor, Dario Coates, King of Egypt, Sam Harris, Black Prince of Paradine, Dylan Wilby, Hector, Thomas Deadman, Tosspot and finally Pace Egg evergreen Isaac Rose takes the lead role of Saint George. Crowds will also be spoilt with the musical brilliance of Clara Collett and Jess Woodhead, who will be the buglers once again.

For those of you reading this article, having not seen the Pace-Egg before, I really do urge you to get to your local area this Easter, and support this magnificent tradition. Once again the play promises to be a fantastic and memorable occasion, so don’t stay away; come experience Good Friday the Calder Valley way!

The Pace Eggers will be donating all funds made on the day to The Calder Valley Search and Rescue Team.

Running Order
8-45 Banksfield Estate
9-30 Todmorden
10-15 Mytholmroyd
11-00 Hebden Bridge (Holme Street)
11-30 St Georges Square
12-00 Lunch Break
12-45 Hebden Bridge (Marina)
1-30 Luddenden
2-05 Midgley
3-00 Heptonstall