Performances: This set of Interlude plays was performed during the fall/winter banquet season of AS XXXIII (1998-1999).

• The Golden Rivers Anniversary Tourney, November 28th saw The Washtub and Pilgrimmage.
• The Southern Shores Jingles Feast, December 5th saw The Washtub presented again. The only folk who saw it twice were the Royalty ...
• The Beaconsgate Boar Hunt, December 12th saw The Eel Pie and the Cheese Tart performed.
• West Kingdom Twelfth Night (January 2, 1999) saw all five of these plays performed.

Incidents: Amazingly, except for one actor buggering out on us (a new one who may be back later) due to mundane job weirdness, we've done pretty well. No real problems. We broke the casts out to "East Bay" (although half the folk in that cast were in San Francisco), "South Bay" and "The Mask" was done by two folk in Santa Cruz. This made rehearsals much easier to deal with, as folk didn't have to travel as far for weekly rehearsals.

We did end up changing The Eel Pie a bit and made the two rogues into female beggars instead ... a minor change, and it worked fine ...

Actually, as it turns out ... just before 12th Night, Kæll went skiing, and damaged a ligament in his knee. This was disconcerting, but he's such a trooper that he went on stage and did both parts in the two different plays he was in. The funny thing is that the limp actually aided both roles ... (I modified the prologue to mention actors taking the words "Break a leg" too seriously ...)

In addition, at the 12th Night performance, the actors in The Eel Pie ... changed one of the lines. The line was originally about "St. Dismas, patron of thieves and rogues". This was changed (apparently it had been planned for a couple of months without my knowing) to: "St. Hirsch, patron of actors and rogues". This blind-sided me during the performance pretty well ... I was stunned ... members of the audience who knew me looked for me to get my reaction which was pretty much jaw wide open in surprise and then I had a good laugh myself ...

Video Tape: There are two tapes. The first is the pre-12th Night tape, and the second is the 12th Night performance.

The Scripts: The full scripts for each play can be found here:
The Eel Pie and the Cheese Tart: Acrobat
The Washtub: Acrobat
Pilgrimage: Acrobat
The Mask: Acrobat
The Jealous Old Man: Acrobat

The Cast for each play:

The Program This year we decided to add Profiles of the actors to the back of the program. It makes for an ... interesting ... read.

Anne of Ockham is not really from Ockham, but she worked in the razor factory there (Ockham’s Razors, Ltd.) for 20 years before abandoning the razor business for a life on the stage. She is actually from a small village outside Nimes. But we have not let on that we know – she'd be dreadfully upset.

Cynthia du Pré Argent – Her mother was frightened by a strange hat before she was born, and she's been struggling her entire life to overcome the resultant obsession. Unfortunately, some of the best hats look like relics.

Hirsch von Henford – Is the founder, the primary producer, and usually the director of the Golden Stag Players, and often has delusions that he's in charge of what the actors are doing on stage. The actors find this highly amusing and show him great forbearance while proceeding to do what they were doing anyway.

Iricus le Ferur – Abandoned at an early age, he was found by a wandering pack of Land Dragons. He grew up to be the healer and caretaker of the senior citizens of the land dragon pack that have the strange runes of 'F O R D' emblazoned across their fronts.

Joanna Melissa Ronsivalle – Joanna, a serious artisan of the textile persuasion, indulges in the low sport of acting when she is not pursuing the high art of textile production, or providing sustenance and succor to her dogs and spouse (though not necessarily in that order). At last report she was attempting to learn the secret of spinning steel wool so as to weave a new set of dyeing pots.

Juan Santiago – Juan was found by a group of traveling gypsies under a billiard table in a box marked "Sim Balla Bim". Finding no use for him, the gypsies sold him to a group of actors who raised him to play the role of "El Capitano". Wondering about the strange words written on the box he was found in, he consulted a magician who found the words in Reggie Scotts' book Discoveries of StageCraft, and told him they meant "Doomed to build Sets in the Rain".

Kæll of the Broken Tower – Kæll is merely the personification of an evil entity that rules the world. He is the one to blame when things go wrong. In fact, another personification stole Kæll's claim to the principle that what can go wrong, will. This rule should henceforth be known as Kæll's Law. Kæll's Law shall consist of cabbage, mayonnaise, carrots, one onion, lemon juice, caraway seeds, and salt and pepper. Shred the cabbage, carrots, and onion. Mix in rest. Chill. Enjoy.

Margrethe Astrid Ravn (mar-GRAY-te AS-trid RAwn [rhymes with brown]) Dan. 1. Short tempered redhead with tendencies to fly off the handle at any moment; 2. born-in-the-SCA ex-Constable who's been there, done that; 3. Innocent soul sucked into a Machiavellian scheme, is quoted as saying "I thought they meant a stag party, honest!"

Michael of Worcester is a founding member of the "Save the Dragons Foundation." His favorite meals include Knights and Unicorns because they both come with their own toothpick. Michael thinks Dragons are the original party animals (okay Godzilla was, really). He often follows the word "No" with the word "Problem" which is why he does so much volunteer work, including Golden Stag Players' shows. Anything else is in your hands, or heads ... so Cope.

Original Nightshade – Nightshade (the Original; accept no substitutes!) was raised by wolves and thus scratches herself in public and pants when overheated. Eventually she was housebroken and taught simple commands. When she is not whacking the gonads off of domestic pets for a living, she entertains herself with flights of fantasy, questionable affairs, and dealing with her own poor judgement (called "getting experience").

Robyn McClaren – Was born a long time ago, in a shire far far away, into a period of civil war. Rebel lords striking from a hidden base have won their first victory under clan McLaren against the evil lord Melodramatix. During the battle the second son, Robyn, managed to steal plans to Melodramatix' new secret weapon, an armored siege engine in the shape of a swan, with enough power to destroy an entire kingdom. Pursued by Melodramatix' agents, Robyn searches the known world for his father's mentor, O'bi Wan Ton Soup, to help restore order and the monarchy to the shire.

Rose de Le Mans – When she was a child, Rose and her brother, Hansel, were abandoned in the woods by their evil stepmother. Although they had left a trail of breadcrumbs, the crumbs were eaten by the birds and the children were lost in the forest. They wandered deeper and deeper into the woods until they found a house made entirely of gingerbread. An evil witch lived in the house, and she tried to cook the children for her dinner. Luckily, they were able to trick her into climbing into the oven herself, and they quickly slammed the oven door shut, killing the evil, old witch. They took the treasure they found in the house, and made their way out of the woods and back to their home.

No, wait, that was somebody else.

Seamus Padraig O’Baiogheallain mì Narach – A man who always knows exactly where he has been, but is often confused as to why. Raised from an early age to be a serious actor, and after many (failed) attempts at playing dramatic roles, it was decided that this was not to be. He then spent several years as a practice dummy for the stage combat. After sustaining a few..... minor..... head wounds it was decided to try him on the stage again. You can see whether this has been a good idea.

Teresa le Marchant – This year is Teresa's second with the Golden Stag Players. Following our promise to Wulfric that he would never again be forced to play anyone younger than 20 years of age, this year we thought it only fair to allow Teresa to play parts in her own gender. Now, if we can get her to remember to wear a chemise ...

Wulfric of Creigull is a Saxon living next door to the oldest brewing town in pre-Conquest England. His three constant companions are his lady, their cat, and his sourdough. The first two disagree over who owns him. The third just burbles a lot.

The rest of the program was pretty simple. We added two games to the last page:

There is a relic in all of the plays you will see this evening. See if you can spot the relic in each play (not as easy as it sounds).

Each of the five plays tonight has at least one of the "Seven Deadly Sins" portrayed in some fashio, and each of hte Deadly Sins are portrayed in at least one of the plays. Match the play on the left with the vice on the right.

And finally, we added an advertisement ...