2010 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, 2nd 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.

The cast for 2010 has changed dramatically from last year, with no less than 5 new faces making their Pace Egg debuts. Isaac Rose, Johnny McQuade, Joachim Goddard and Dylan Wilby have all moved on to future endeavours, with Billy Painter also making an unexpected late exit due to work commitments.

Entering the Pace Egg fray are some rather younger players than in previous years, with Jacob Jones and Jack Deighton (both 14) taking the roles of King of Egypt and The Doctor respectively. Also making their first Pace Egg appearances are Joe Cotton and Rowan Carter, the latter of which has had plenty of preparation having stepped into the Heptonstall Pace Egg performance last year, they will take the parts of Hector and Black Prince of Paradine respectively. The final addition to the cast of 2010 is Kieran Bell. Having initially missed the audition process due to illness, Kieran was thrown a lifeline just over two weeks ago when it was announced that there was a final part to fill due to Painter becoming unavailable for the day, Kieran gladly accepted and will be The Fool this year.

This year’s cast will be: Kieran Bell, The Fool; Sam Harris, Bold Slasher; Jack Deighton, The Doctor; Jacob Jones, King of Egypt; Rowan Carter, Black Prince of Paradine; Joe Cotton, Hector; Thomas Deadman, Tosspot and finally Dario Coates takes the lead role of Saint George in what will be his farewell year. Crowds will also be spoiled by 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 and experience a real slice of Calder Valley life!

The Pace Eggers will be donating all funds made on the day to Overgate Hospice.

Pace Egg Running Order

8:45 Banksfield Estate

9:30 Todmorden

10:15 Mytholmroyd

11:00 Hebden Bridge (Holme Street)

11:30 Hebden Bridge (St George's Square)

12:45 Hebden Bridge (Marina)

1:30 Luddenden

2:05 Midgley

3:00 Heptonstall

We wish them all the best of luck!