"Kyth and Kyn" | Sermon Drama by the Trinity Players
Kyth and Kyn
A Modernization of the Wakefield Mystery Play Jacob
By Neil Olsen
Presented as a Zoom Video Conference at the time of a pandemic,
June 7, 2010
Cast
LECTOR, Murry Harrison
NARRATOR, Anna Foster
JACOB, played by Pat Clendenen
GOD, played jointly by Bob Sandine and Karen Isaacs
RACHEL, played by Lisa Sandine
LEAH, played by Anna Foster
ESAU, played by Warner Marshall
VIDEO DIRECTOR, Kyle Picha
ACTING COACH, Jeanne Kerr
DIRECTOR, Bob Sandine
Introduction by Translator Neil Olsen
Jacob is the first extant play in the English Language. It is based on Genesis. Like many of the earlier mystery plays, it sticks very closely to the Vulgate Latin Bible, dramatizing Jacob’s drama of the ladder to God, the promise of tithing for the Church, Jacob’s return home to Canaan, and his reconciliation with his brother. A narrated section is spoken in the middle of the play to explain all the things that happen in the thirty years between the two sections.
It was written about 1360 in Middle English (at about the time of Chaucer), and is part of Wakefield Cycle of Mystery Plays. Though it follows the Bible closely, it uses simple short English words, not Latinisms, and is delivered in plain short four beat rhymed iambic couplets. It has somewhere to go and intends to get there in good solid walking shoes at a brisk pace.
Kith and Kin
Lector Reading: Genesis 27:41-45
Now Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father had blessed him, and Esau said to himself, "The days of mourning for my father are approaching; then I will kill my brother Jacob." But the words of her elder son Esau were told to Rebekah; so she sent and called her younger son Jacob and said to him, "Your brother Esau is consoling himself by planning to kill you. Now therefore, my son, obey my voice; flee at once to my brother Laban in Haran, and stay with him a while, until your brother's fury turns away— until your brother's anger against you turns away, and he forgets what you have done to him; then I will send, and bring you back from there. Why should I lose both of you in one day?"
Scene 1: The Road to Haran
(There is a ladder with Heaven at the top. Jacob runs in dragging a staff, weary and in dread: he is on the run from his murderous brother Esau. He stops by a stone, leans on his staff, and prays to Heaven.)
JACOB.
Oh Help me, Lord God, Adonay,
And hold me straight in the right way
To Mesopotamia, for
I never came this way before.
I never came to this country;
Oh Lord of Heaven, thou help me!
For I have made me, in this street
Sore bones and weary aching feet.
The sun is down, now what is best?
Here purpose I all night to rest;
(He pulls a big stone over and drops it.)
Under my head this stone shall lie;
And here tonight rest take will I.
(JACOB falls down and sleeps, using the stone as a pillow. GOD appears on the ladder, ‘leaning’ against it. Messenger Angels go up and down the ladder, carrying messages to God.)
GOD.
Jacob, Jacob, thy God I am;
Of thy forefather, Abraham,
And of thy father, Isaac; take
This blessing I give for their sake.
This land about, that thou sleeps in.
I shall thee give, and give thy kin;
I shall thy seed well multiply,
As thick as dust on earth may lie,
The kin of thee shall spread far wide,
From east to west on every side,
And from the south unto the north;
All that I say, I shall bring forth
And all the folk of thine offspring
Shall be bless-ed of thy blessing.
Jacob, have thou no dread, indeed,
I shall thee clothe, I shall thee feed,
I shall make thy way safe and straight;
I shall thee help, early and late;
And all in health shall I bring thee
Back home again to thy country,
I shall not fail, be thou so bold,
But I shall do as I have told.
(GOD blesses Jacob, and leaves. Jacob wakes, and stands, and turns about, bewildered.)
JACOB.
Ah, Gracious Lord! What may this mean?
What have I heard, in sleep, and seen?
That God leaned on a ladder high,
And spoke to me, it is no lie;
And now is none of that estate,
But God’s own house and heavens’ gate.
Oh, Lord, this place is full of dread!
Last night, where I lay down my head,
For love of God I raise this stone,
(Jacob raises up the stone.)
And oil will I put thereon. .
(He pours oil on the stone.)
Oh Lord, of heaven, that all knows,
A vow to thee I here compose,
If thou give me both meat and food,
My body clothe, as need I should,
And bring me home to kith and kin,
Along the way that I walk in,
Without harm, healthy as I start,
I promise thee, with steadfast heart,
As thou art Lord, and my God too,
And I Jacob, thy servant true,
This stone in sign today I raise
I shall hold holy Kirk always;
And of all that is new to me,
By right, one tenth shall I give thee.
Scene 2: The House of Laban (Genesis 29-31)
(A lot of time has passed between these two scenes.)
Narrator. Jacob journeys on to Haran and comes to a well. Beautiful Rachel enters, and stops to water her flocks of sheep. Jacob sees her, falls in Love, and kisses her and tells her he is her cousin. Rachel runs and tells her father Laban, who is Jacob’s Uncle. Jacob offers to work for seven years for Laban in exchange for Rachel’s hand. After seven years they go to marry, but Laban veils his other daughter, the plain but good-hearted Leah, and Jacob marries the wrong girl. To marry Rachel as his second wife, Jacob again offers to work for Laban another seven years. The women not only bear him children but offer their handmaidens to him as wives. After fourteen years, Jacob intends go home with his now quite large family, including his youngest son Joseph, but Laban demands six more years of labor, offering to pay Jacob with all the stripped and spotted livestock born to his herds. Laban tries to cheat Jacob, but Jacob becomes wealthy with God’s help by breeding the flocks to favor stripped and spotted coats on the animals.
God tells Jacob to return to Canaan. Jacob gathers his livestock, wives, and children and tries to sneak off while Laban is away. Enraged, Laban chases them for seven days. On the seventh day, Laban catches up with them. But by God’s command Laban reconciles with Jacob and his own daughters. Jacob continues his journey to the Ford of Jabbok with his family. He will meet with his brother, whom he tried to cheat out of their Father’s blessing. He fears his brother may still be angry and turn violent.
Scene 3: The Ford of Jabbok
(Jacob enters, holding his staff, standing by the Ford of Jabbok on the River Jordan. Behind him are two groups, one made up of his wives and children, and one of the guardian Angels. They carefully cross over the Jordan into Canaan.
JACOB.
My father, God, from heaven’s cloud,
That said to me, through thy voice loud,
When I dwelled in Haran, thou planned
That I should turn again to land,
The land where I was born and fed.
Thou warned me, Lord, as fast I fled,
Years back, as I went towards Haran
With my staff, and passed the Jordan:
And now I come to kith again,
With two hosts of Angels and men.
Thou vowed, Lord, to do well by me,
To grow my seed as sand of sea;
Thou save me lord, through thy good grace
From Esau’s vengeance in this place
That he slay not, for old dislikes,
These mothers with their little tikes.
(Rachel comes forth with her bundles of goods, and her children, followed by Leah and her children. They drop their bundles at the ford.)
RACHEL.
Our anguish, sir, is many fold,
Since that our messenger has told
Us Esau would slay you in war,
With four hundred armed men and more.
JACOB.
For sooth, Rachel, I have him sent
Many fine beasts as a present.
Perhaps he will our gifts yet take,
And right so shall his anger slake.
Where are our things? Past the Jordan?
(Leah steps up with her bundles of goods, and her children.)
LEAH.
Go and look, sir, there as ye can.
(Rachel and Leah exit with the children, sheep and Angels. Night falls. God enters. Jacob, perhaps thinking he may be a thief, indignantly fends off the intruder. They wrestle, standing, and Jacob puts God in a wrestlers hold.)
GOD.
The day springs up; now let me go. .
JACOB.
Nay, nay, I hold. I will not so,
But thou bless me ere thou be gone:
If I may, I shall hold thee long.
GOD.
In token that thou spoke with me
I shall touch now thy thigh, and thee
Shall hence be lamed for evermore,
(God touches Jacob’s thigh, and Jacob releases God, and falls back, now lame.)
But thou shall feel no lasting sore;
What is thy name, thou me tell?
JACOB.
Jacob. .
GOD.
Nay, not, but Israel;
Since thou to me such strength revealed
All men of earth to thee must yield.
JACOB.
What is thy name?
GOD.
Why asks thou so?
‘Wonderful’, if thou truth will know. `
(Jacob backs up fearfully: he realizes he has met God. He kneels.)
JACOB.
Ah, bless me, Lord.
GOD.
I shall thee bless.
And fully favor thy progress,
And give thee my blessing forever,
As Lord whom all things may endeavor.
I shall grace thy path smooth and straight,
And full well now ordain thy state;
When thou has dread, think then on me,
And thou shall full well blessed be,
And look thou trust well what I say
And farewell now, for dawns the day.
(God exits. Jacob rises)
JACOB.
I have a new name: Israel;
This place shall I call Fanuell,
For I have seen God in this place,
The God of Heaven, face to face.
(Rachel and the rest of his family and children and sheep rush back in, they take up the goods.)
Scene 4: The Return to Canaan
RACHEL.
Jacob, lo we have tidings, and
Know that Esau is here at hand.
(Jacob orders his ‘troop’ in to ‘three parts’ so that Rachel, Joseph and Benjamin are in the back.)
JACOB.
Rachel, stand thou in the last ground,
For I would thou were safe and sound;
Call Joseph and Benjamin too,
And let them not from depart from you.
If it be Esau is malign,
And kills us all in the first line,
Yet those that are here with the last
Ye may be saved, if ye flee fast.
(Jacob bravely goes to the front of the group. Esau enters with a sword, followed by two servants. Jacob goes down on his knees, praying to God.)
I pray thee, Lord, as thou pledged me,
Thou save me and my family.
(After a pause Esau sheathes his sword and rushes to embrace his brother.)
ESAU.
Welcome, brother, to kin and kith,
Thy wife and tikes that come thee with.
How has thou fared in a far land?
Tell me good tidings of thy band.
(The two servants are suspicious, and circle Jacob with their swords up.)
JACOB.
Well, my Brother Esau, I thank you,
If that thy men no bane me do.
(Esau turns to his servants.)
ESAU.
Hey ho, fellows, hold up your hands.
Ye see that he and I are friends.
And friendship here will we fulfill,
Since that is clearly God’s own will.
JACOB.
God yield, you brother, I owe this,
Thou are my lord, so I thee kiss.
(JACOB goes to his knees to kiss ESAU’s hand to acknowledge him as his lord, but his brother raises him up.)
ESAU.
Nay, Jacob, my dear brother, rise,
I shall thee tell a great surprise,
Thou art my lord, through destiny;
Go we together, thou and me,
Home to our father and his wife,
That love thee, brother, as their life.
The End.