A bit of history -- just before Twelfth Night the previous year, my wife and I were thinking about actually writing some plays (we'd been toying with the idea for some time, but hadn't come up with any really great plot ideas ... we'd tried playing with "Alice in Wonderland", and looking at possibly doing a Reduced Shakespeare treatment to Henry V, but nothing really wanted to gel). I said something completely off the wall to her, and she kind of snarled. I looked up at her and said "I'm a good boy, I am" in the best imitation I could of Audrey Hepburn in My Fair Lady. We both had a good laugh, and then on the way to the event, talked about using Pygmalion (the play that My Fair Lady is taken from) as the basis for a play. We came up with some interesting ideas, and then left it for awhile.
Over the course of the next 8 months, the ideas evolved into an honest-to-gosh script. In July we had the first act done (well, a draft) and at the now annual Golden Stag Player picnic, we went over it with Viscountess Tatiana in attendance as well (we got some fun ideas from her, as well as "The Crown List Gavotte").
We cast it (well, some of the characters were written for specific actors in the troupe), and rehearsals started in September. It was a bit of a haul, because the play turns from hysterical to pretty serious by the end of the show. However, in addition to making some strong moral points about the SCA, it had a great tear-jerker ending (Juan and Rose are still fighting over which of them sniffed first) ... In many ways, this show was the most challenging for the actors portraying the main characters that we've ever done.
Synopsis: A relative newbie to the SCA (Vexorg, Destroyer of a Thousand Shields -- later his name changes to Galateus) is at a newcomer's event in February or so, in the Kingdom of the Jest. He stumbles and spills his drink on a Laurel (Mistress Placidia) who has just moved to the Jest from the Feast Kingdom, who is there as the guest of Lady Egregia. Mistress Asinia (a Laurel) comes along during all this and has fun ... she and Mistress Placidia get to talking (they've always wanted to meet each other, after all). By the end of the first act, they've decided to take on Vexorg as an apprentice, and get him Laureled by 12th Night.
Well, without giving it all away (read the script!), the play is about SCA morality (on various levels), and why we spend so much time in the SCA doing the things we do. Is it for the awards? Is it for other reasons?
Incidents: None, really ... I mean, the show went really well. Everyone was up, and we got our second, and even more deserved standing ovation for this show.
The members of the Shire of Crosston (there were four) who came forward and helped us out in the court scene had very little direction. It was basically "when the Saltireshire presentation is called forward, bring the basket up, do something pretty basic (bowing and such), hand over the basket, and get out of court ..."
Well, they hammed it up, one of them tripped (I think it was accidental, but they played it well), they went gonzo with the bowing and grovelling, and it got huge laughs. Kudos to these folk -- it went over well, and it did something we hoped it would -- it sucked the audience into the scene even more. When court was closed, the audience chimed in on the cheers ...
Video Tape: Yes. The camera was further back than I would have liked, and with the overly orange cast of the hall (Scottish Rite Temple in Oakland), it's a bit hard to see folk (especially facial expressions), but the place was so accoustically sound that you can hear nearly everything with no problem.
DVD: Now available (includes Da Boids at no extra cost!) -- the DVD has the same issues as the VHS, because it's just a copy of that, contact Hirsch for details (probably $5-10, just to cover the cost of the discs, the case, etc. and any postage would need to be tacked on).
The Script:
Peermalion: Acrobat
The Cast:
| Mistress Asinia | Rose de Le Mans |
| Mistress Placidia | Anne of Ockham |
| Galateus of Asia Minor | Wulfric of Creigull |
| Sir Leigh eu Geste | Juan Santiago |
| Lady Deteriorata of the Red Claw | Margrethe Astrid Ravn |
| Lady Egregia | Joanna Melissa Ronsivalle |
| Lady Gratuita | Original Nightshade |
| Lord Frick | Thorvald |
| Lord Frack | Tarik ibn Jamaladdin |
| Master Pretentio | Kæll of the Broken Tower |
| Herald | Charles Ravenstone (Bonefinder) |
| Laurel 1 | Vanessa |
| Laurel 2 | Michael of Worcester |
| Laurel 3 | Marisela Bianca de Esponosa y Piñolez | Special Guest Appearances: |
|---|---|
| Lady Tedia | Condesa Juana Isabella de Montoya y Ramirez |
| Lady Trivia | Baroness Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn |
| Saltireshire | Members of the Shire of Crosston |
The back of the program again didn't have a lot, but we had some reviews similar to the previous ones:
The Critics say about "The Jealous Old Man":
"Four Stars! Boffo perfomances by y Piñolez and Vanessa! A production of immense verve!" -- Lord Reed Rex
"Two thumbs up for The Jealous Old Man! Seamus Padraig - the next Donald of Knotts! A must-see!" -- Lord Siskel of Ebert
"I laughed, I cried ..." -- Duchess Letitia de Scotia
This bit from the play itself was thrown in to fill in some blank space on the program back (Galateus recites this during the play):
Reviews:
We've got a few bits in our scrap books from Email in response to messages
I posted as thank-yous to the folk in Crosston on SCA-West (an Internet
mailing list), as well as to the autocrats for allowing us to perform. Here
are some excerpts that were fun:
From Mistress Hilary of Serendip, who was autocrat of Twelfth Night:"The play certainly added to the richness of the event, fitting my goals perfectly. I wanted this to be the 12th Night where there was always more to see and do ... Good play, too, as you doubtless know - I watched the whole thing; probably the longest time I spent in one spot all day. Thanks to you and Aldith and all your crew for all the work and care you put in!"
From Dame Teleri Tawel, who organized the Saltire-shire folk:"I assure you that we 'Saltireshirians' (say _that_ fast 3 times) had fun too. I shoulda warned you that - without instructions to the contrary - Crosstonians tend to do silly things. "Silliness is a virtue" is, after all, Crosston's motto. Tho, frankly, the fact that the stage was shallow and Vytas takes up a lot of space meant that groveling was the only thing we really could do 'gracefully' without blocking too much of the audience's line of sight! Serendipity."
From Siobhan Meabh O'Rourke (spelling?), we have two:1) "An amusing side note: my daughter, Jennie, wandered into the play at about this point: she saw the Crosstonians going up, and thought to herself, "Heavens! Is court going on _again?!!!!_"
2) "My 6 year-old also really liked it - laughed at all the broad jokes, some of the subtle ones, and all the sight gags. He also told me on the way home that he was glad that his dad took 10 years to become a Laurel, because it must mean that Dad did it right." (Sniff -- I guess this means we did our bits right, eh?)
From a gentleman in Caid (on the Compuserve Living History forum we mostly know him as 'da Troll' -- Karl), who downloaded the script from the forum:"<<check out the script>> ... well I did last night when I got home from work (midnight) and read it until completion ... my wife was kinda Peeved that I woke her up with all the laughter coming from me, and all the noise from when I fell out of the chair ... I Love this Play ..."
From Mistress Rowena in the Midrealm who also downloaded the play:"Wonderful! Should be required reading for all laurels."