Lanark, COAM, Dover, Raree, Heresy
Scotland's Festival of History at Lanark was as much fun as ever - more so, in fact, since it featured extra McAllister time. No mountainside yurt stopover this year, however, since I was due at the Tower of London the following morning and had to speed off for a train as soon as our last show was done.
I had a single day booked as Herald for a 'Masters of the Sword' event at the Tower of London, but the changable Bank Holiday weather meant that we gave two 'Challenge' scenes (which boil down to "1 - Establish historical period, 2- sketch characters and reasons for rivalry, 3 - invite visitors to sword tournament later") only to have both actual fight sessions cancelled due to rain. Weird day, all in all.
As soon as that was done, it was off to Chiltern Open Air Museum to join the rest of Trouvere for the rest of the BH weekend doing Tales of Reynard the Fox. Having expected to be sleeping in the medieval tent for two nights, I was delighted to find that Paul and Gill had secured a medieval barn as our base for the weekend. Not only that, but that an exhibition had recently been moved out of the barn and left their lighting rig behind which proved just perfect for lighting a table where a game of Dominion was all set up and waiting for me to join in (and, due to a lot of practice at Southsea, subsequently trounce the others to the tune of 15 out of 19 games over the weekend). Good weather, big fat fanfares and extremely appreciative audiences made for a very enjoyable weekend. We'd been at hurstmonceux for the previous few August bank holiday weekends, but it was nice to have a change, especially for more money and better accomodation for less work closer to home!
September's rota didn't offer me as many shifts as I might have hoped, but I was able to pick up discarded "oops, I've double booked myself" discards from a few colleagues which, along with associated required shadowing days, means I've actually been comfortably busy this month. They were mainly 'guest appearances', but that's cool since I got to show my adaptability and range, while also getting to have been part of some corking scenarios.
My favourite was probably the Tower of London and 'The Raree Show' (about the closure of the Royal menagerie in the 1830s). The original incarnation of this show was, ahem, flawed, but it had been significantly rewritten during August when the focus was instead on 'Siege' and 'Masters of the Sword' and it is now a very funny, informative and enjoyable show. Audiences are fickle, mind you. One minute they'll happily cheer at the idea of bear baiting and the next they'll boo and hiss you off stage just because the pretty girl in the bonnet tells them a sob story about a boy savaged by a leopard, a girl mauled by a lion and a soldier bitten by a gibbon. Bah!
Mind you, I also enjoyed Heresy at Hampton Court Palace. The rest of the company had been speaking highly of this scenario and there hads been a lot of positive comments, but I hadn't had the chance to see it (save as an only tangentially involved Yeoman of the Guard) until studying for the role of Dr. Owens, the King's physician (and secret supporter of the Queen and religious reform). In 1546, Katherine Parr came within a gnat's whisker of being arrested for heresy and probably following Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard to the block. The 'Heresy' scenario is that story and it's very, very good indeed. At various times, the audience are arbitrarily divided into those who are close confidants of the queen and those who are trusted agents of Lord Chancellor Thomas Wriothesely who is charged with rooting out heresy wherever he might find it. In just about every scene the visitors are given the opportunity to derail history, but they have always always always made the same decisions as historical accuracy demanded. (Mind you, Past Pleasures people are very practiced at swaying an audience and nudging them into crying "aye!" or "nay!" at the appropriate times...).
For all that Henry VIII did actually sign an arrest warrant for Katerine Parr, she managed to win him back round by persuading him that any time she might have seemed to preach religious reform, she was actually attempting to distract him from hgis increasing illness and give him the opportunity to instruct her, a a mere woman who needed the guidance of her husband. The "I am but a woman and all women are feeble of intellect and must needs submit to the instruction of their husbands" speech is brilliantly done. The sentiment of it is deeply offensive to modern sensibilities, but that actually serves as a stronger insight into the attitudes of the perios and the reality than the aged Henry was a dangerously unstable monster. Different interpreters have delivered that scene with different emphases, meaning that multiple meanings are presented. Does Katherine simply submit and recant? Does she actually manipulate the King by saying what the King wants to hear? Has the King actually been playing an elaborate faction-balancing game and has used the threat to his queen to remind everyone who is actually in charge? There are so many different conclusions you can draw, and that is the very essence of interpretation.
The week after playing Dr Owens, I was called upon to play Chancellor Wriothesely, catapulting me right into centre stage. I received many positive comments (from colleagues, palace warders and visitors), but personally think I only did okay. Another day or two of it would be very welcome, but the scenario changes at the end of the month, so it's too late. Mind you, it seems likely that it'll be revived for next summer, so here's hoping!.
Right now, I'm in Dover playing a Knight Hospitaller and delivering my medieval alchemy presentation to great acclaim. This month's scenario has a vague medical theme, with Henry II's pregant daughter Mathilda of Saxony frequently present and therefore also an associated doctor or midwife character and (sometimes) even Henry's usually-in-prison-but-let-out-for-special-occasions wife, Eleanor of Aquitaine.
I've never been cast as king opposite Eleanor, and I confess I'm actually somewhat relived. The woman who plays her is lovely, but she plays Eleanor with a wit and tongue sharper than knives and I'm not convinced I could hold Henry's own against her without playing the "but I'm a man and therefore must be right!" card which, while historically accurate, is just cheap... Still, we all live together when down here in Dover so I'm getting to know Hillary better and becoming more able to judge how far I might push things IC without causing OOC offence. Next time, Eleanor. Next time!
If there is a next time, that is. It might be just me, but there seems to be a big feeling of conclusion at the moment. English Heritage has suffered so many budget cuts of late that it strikes me as unlikely that our contract here will be renewed in 2012, which means this might be my last visit. I'd dearly love to mistaken in that, but I think I could draw a line under the Dover thing with few regrets. It may be that my fear it's all ending is based on my last day at Dover this year will be as King - the role for which I was originally recruited. My spiraltower name derives in part from a dislike of circles completing without my having improved or 'risen a level', but I was recruited by Past Pleasures to play Henry II at Dover Castle, they've since used me heavily at all of their other sites (and as several other 'lead' characters such as Henry VIII and Guy Fawkes) and last week I was notified that I should now be invoicing at tghe senior rate of pay. (Ding! Woot!) I'd be sorry to see the Dover circle close, but I've discovered the long lost tribe of my ancestors in Past Pleasures and they hold me in very high regard; I've learned an emormous amount about my craft and I'm several levels higher up that spiral tower than I was at the start of summer 2009. I'd certainly love to come back next year, but if that doesn't happen then I'll still leave Dover Castle on Monday with zero regrets.
I had a single day booked as Herald for a 'Masters of the Sword' event at the Tower of London, but the changable Bank Holiday weather meant that we gave two 'Challenge' scenes (which boil down to "1 - Establish historical period, 2- sketch characters and reasons for rivalry, 3 - invite visitors to sword tournament later") only to have both actual fight sessions cancelled due to rain. Weird day, all in all.
As soon as that was done, it was off to Chiltern Open Air Museum to join the rest of Trouvere for the rest of the BH weekend doing Tales of Reynard the Fox. Having expected to be sleeping in the medieval tent for two nights, I was delighted to find that Paul and Gill had secured a medieval barn as our base for the weekend. Not only that, but that an exhibition had recently been moved out of the barn and left their lighting rig behind which proved just perfect for lighting a table where a game of Dominion was all set up and waiting for me to join in (and, due to a lot of practice at Southsea, subsequently trounce the others to the tune of 15 out of 19 games over the weekend). Good weather, big fat fanfares and extremely appreciative audiences made for a very enjoyable weekend. We'd been at hurstmonceux for the previous few August bank holiday weekends, but it was nice to have a change, especially for more money and better accomodation for less work closer to home!
September's rota didn't offer me as many shifts as I might have hoped, but I was able to pick up discarded "oops, I've double booked myself" discards from a few colleagues which, along with associated required shadowing days, means I've actually been comfortably busy this month. They were mainly 'guest appearances', but that's cool since I got to show my adaptability and range, while also getting to have been part of some corking scenarios.
My favourite was probably the Tower of London and 'The Raree Show' (about the closure of the Royal menagerie in the 1830s). The original incarnation of this show was, ahem, flawed, but it had been significantly rewritten during August when the focus was instead on 'Siege' and 'Masters of the Sword' and it is now a very funny, informative and enjoyable show. Audiences are fickle, mind you. One minute they'll happily cheer at the idea of bear baiting and the next they'll boo and hiss you off stage just because the pretty girl in the bonnet tells them a sob story about a boy savaged by a leopard, a girl mauled by a lion and a soldier bitten by a gibbon. Bah!
Mind you, I also enjoyed Heresy at Hampton Court Palace. The rest of the company had been speaking highly of this scenario and there hads been a lot of positive comments, but I hadn't had the chance to see it (save as an only tangentially involved Yeoman of the Guard) until studying for the role of Dr. Owens, the King's physician (and secret supporter of the Queen and religious reform). In 1546, Katherine Parr came within a gnat's whisker of being arrested for heresy and probably following Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard to the block. The 'Heresy' scenario is that story and it's very, very good indeed. At various times, the audience are arbitrarily divided into those who are close confidants of the queen and those who are trusted agents of Lord Chancellor Thomas Wriothesely who is charged with rooting out heresy wherever he might find it. In just about every scene the visitors are given the opportunity to derail history, but they have always always always made the same decisions as historical accuracy demanded. (Mind you, Past Pleasures people are very practiced at swaying an audience and nudging them into crying "aye!" or "nay!" at the appropriate times...).
For all that Henry VIII did actually sign an arrest warrant for Katerine Parr, she managed to win him back round by persuading him that any time she might have seemed to preach religious reform, she was actually attempting to distract him from hgis increasing illness and give him the opportunity to instruct her, a a mere woman who needed the guidance of her husband. The "I am but a woman and all women are feeble of intellect and must needs submit to the instruction of their husbands" speech is brilliantly done. The sentiment of it is deeply offensive to modern sensibilities, but that actually serves as a stronger insight into the attitudes of the perios and the reality than the aged Henry was a dangerously unstable monster. Different interpreters have delivered that scene with different emphases, meaning that multiple meanings are presented. Does Katherine simply submit and recant? Does she actually manipulate the King by saying what the King wants to hear? Has the King actually been playing an elaborate faction-balancing game and has used the threat to his queen to remind everyone who is actually in charge? There are so many different conclusions you can draw, and that is the very essence of interpretation.
The week after playing Dr Owens, I was called upon to play Chancellor Wriothesely, catapulting me right into centre stage. I received many positive comments (from colleagues, palace warders and visitors), but personally think I only did okay. Another day or two of it would be very welcome, but the scenario changes at the end of the month, so it's too late. Mind you, it seems likely that it'll be revived for next summer, so here's hoping!.
Right now, I'm in Dover playing a Knight Hospitaller and delivering my medieval alchemy presentation to great acclaim. This month's scenario has a vague medical theme, with Henry II's pregant daughter Mathilda of Saxony frequently present and therefore also an associated doctor or midwife character and (sometimes) even Henry's usually-in-prison-but-let-out-for-special-occasions wife, Eleanor of Aquitaine.
I've never been cast as king opposite Eleanor, and I confess I'm actually somewhat relived. The woman who plays her is lovely, but she plays Eleanor with a wit and tongue sharper than knives and I'm not convinced I could hold Henry's own against her without playing the "but I'm a man and therefore must be right!" card which, while historically accurate, is just cheap... Still, we all live together when down here in Dover so I'm getting to know Hillary better and becoming more able to judge how far I might push things IC without causing OOC offence. Next time, Eleanor. Next time!
If there is a next time, that is. It might be just me, but there seems to be a big feeling of conclusion at the moment. English Heritage has suffered so many budget cuts of late that it strikes me as unlikely that our contract here will be renewed in 2012, which means this might be my last visit. I'd dearly love to mistaken in that, but I think I could draw a line under the Dover thing with few regrets. It may be that my fear it's all ending is based on my last day at Dover this year will be as King - the role for which I was originally recruited. My spiraltower name derives in part from a dislike of circles completing without my having improved or 'risen a level', but I was recruited by Past Pleasures to play Henry II at Dover Castle, they've since used me heavily at all of their other sites (and as several other 'lead' characters such as Henry VIII and Guy Fawkes) and last week I was notified that I should now be invoicing at tghe senior rate of pay. (Ding! Woot!) I'd be sorry to see the Dover circle close, but I've discovered the long lost tribe of my ancestors in Past Pleasures and they hold me in very high regard; I've learned an emormous amount about my craft and I'm several levels higher up that spiral tower than I was at the start of summer 2009. I'd certainly love to come back next year, but if that doesn't happen then I'll still leave Dover Castle on Monday with zero regrets.