Synopsis:
This play is set in "The Kingdom of the Jest"3, an SCA-Kingdom not too far away
from where the Golden Stag Players reside. This is what we are calling our
"Fighter Play" -- it is about fighting, and motivations -- specifically how
does a figher go from just "playing" to dealing with the big issues
of honor, courtesy and chivalry. There is no
good way to give a synopsis. The best way to understand this one
is to read the script and/or watch the video.
The Performance:
The performance worked, after all the difficulties we had (see below).
It went pretty well, and we got lots of positive comments from folk
after the show was over, and even Sunday morning at the hotel after
breakfast. There were some minor rough spots, but they were minor,
and everyone put in a lot of energy and effort, and it it worked ... we
even had some folk crying during the show, was surprised us.
Incidents:
Overall, this play was one of the hardest we've ever dealt with, due to
the way the year played out in folks' mundane lives, and more ...
Writing this one was harder than it was when Aldith wrote Peermalion. This is largely because she's a Laurel, so writing Peermalion (about Laurels) was pretty easy. Although she's been active in the SCA for many years, she's not a fighter -- it's not an easy thing to write about something you don't actually do. She spent a lot of time talking to SCA fighters she respects in order to try to get the concepts she wanted into the script. I think it worked ... The basic process was to try to get a scenario laid out. Aldith ran into a few brick walls here, so at the summer picnic the GSP hold every year, those interested helped get the scenario working. THEN she tried to write the script based on the scenario. She ran into more brick walls ... so we got some of the folk in the troupe who were really good at writing, and added the fighters in the troupe, and we spent several sessions actually writing the script. We showed it to some friends, got some more input, then of course during the rehearsal process we fine-tuned it. The initial work is still Aldith's, but a lot of folk had major input on this one.
A second problem then came up: We've been rather spoiled over the last few years as we were able to rehearse at Eoin and Teresa's apartment complex's recreation room for free (well, a cleaning deposit, but we always left it cleaner than when we got there). Unfortunately the owners of the complex decided to remodel it, and even after they're done the amount of space left in the area we were using will be dramatically reduced, so we were not able to rehearse there.
Thanks to the efforts of Teresa (who wasn't in this play, but her husband and two children were) who worked out an arrangement with her church for most of the dates we need for rehearsals, and Ilia (who was in the play) worked out an arrangement with a dance studio in Alameda. In both cases we had to pass a hat to raise funds to pay for renting the sites, and we got to clean up after ourselves as well, but at least we had places to rehearse in that are indoors. In addition, up until October Wulfric and Donata let us rehearse in their back yard.
On a sad note this year will be the last (at least for the forseeable future) that we'll be working with Eoin, Teresa, Kiara and Morgan -- due to serious life issues that they've had over the last year, they've moved to An Tir. We have hopes that all will work out for them, as they've been great additions to our troupe. They'll be missed.
Earlier in the year (early summer) Michael of Worcester and Iana of Whitecliff had to move to Atenveldt, so we lost them as well ...
We had problems due to Eoin and Teresa's situation with getting the set pieces we needed done, and Sabrina Goldbender and Frank the Fortunate, whom Seamus is living with loaned us a photographic backdrop that we used for the performance. In addition to have side-walls for entrances and exits we used some of the walls created for past plays, and put curtains over them ... not as polished as we try to do, but it gave us something to work with.
Video Tape:
We have a pretty good video of this play, all things considered. The usual
washing out of faces in some of the shots happened due to the lighting,
but Branwen did a good job of keeping the action in frame, and so on. The
usual sound issue: the only microphone in use was the one on the camera,
so while you can hear most of the dialog, the volume on your TV will need
to be turned up a bit. Copies
can be made on request, but you gotta request -- cost will be cost of tape (not
very expensive at all!).
Photos:
(Link available once/if we have photos ...)
The Script:
A Tale of Two Squires
(PDF)
The Site Flier:
I placed in various places around the site for 12th Night the flier you can
see here (warning, it's in Adobe Acrobat format): Site
Flier
From The Program:
| Act I – Principality of the Blissed Coronet Tournament | |
| Scene 1 – A Camp, End of Second Round (Early Afternoon) | |
| Scene 2 – The Andrea Doria (Mid Afternoon) | |
| Scene 3 – The Camp of House d’Acier (Late Afternoon) | |
| Scene 4 – Same, around 1 a.m. | |
| Act II – Principality of the Blissed Coronet Tournament (6 months later) | |
| Scene 1 – The Camp of House d’Acier, Early Saturday Morning | |
| Scene 2 – Edge of the Eric, Second Round | |
| Scene 3 – Edge of the Eric, Later | |
| Act III – Principality of the Blissed Coronet Tournament (6 months later than Act II) | |
| Scene 1 – Edge of the Eric | |
| Scene 2 – Edge of the Eric, later | |
| Scene 3 – Same, a couple of minutes later | |
| Prologue | Hirsch von Henford |
| Castor | Wulfric of Creigull |
| Damon | Charles Ravenstone |
| Mentos | Fionnbharr O’Cathain |
| Roger | Morgan Mac Eoin* |
| Zirconia Cristallia | Juliana of Emerald Waters* |
| Feria de l’Oreal | Anahita al-Qurtubiyya bint abd al-Karim al-Fassi* |
| Mistress Polyxena of Anatolia | Rose de Le Mans |
| Sir Hector du Colée | Juan Santiago |
| Charmion | Kiara nic Eoin* |
| Iras | Margrethe Astrid Ravn |
| Sir Bran de Brie | Iricus le Ferur |
| Lady Clare de Tritus | Anne of Ockham |
| Sir Umberto di Cambazola | Caolann Sheaghdha Cameron* |
| Sir Bellona della Ricotta | Original Nightshade |
| Count Goubert Chien de Maize | Seamus Padraig O’Baiogheallain mì-Nàrach |
| Horst von dem Schwartzwaldkirschetorte | Frederick of Holland* |
| Castor’s fighting “stunt double” | Seamus Padraig O’Baiogheallain mì-Nàrach |
| Damon’s fighting “stunt double” | Ilia Filia Symeon |
| Herald (off-stage) | Anahita al-Qurtubiyya bint abd al-Karim al-Fassi |
| Marshal (off-stage) | Iricus le Ferur |
* First time on stage with the Golden Stag Players, except for Frederick of Holland, who got hauled up on stage once in The Tale of the Cotswold Lion.
Minor note: in the printed program I had the actresses playing Feria and Zirconia backward -- it's been corrected here. Sorry, ladies!
| Director | Hirsch von Henford |
| Assistant Director | Juan Santiago |
| Script Authors | Aldith Angharad St. George with Anne of Ockham, Garth of Windhaven, Hirsch von Henford, Iricus le Ferur, Juan Santiago, Leticia de Scocia, Margrethe Astrid Ravn, Rose de Le Mans, Seamus Padraig O’Baiogheallain mì-Nàrach, Tatiana Nikolaevna Tumanova, Wulfric of Creigull |
| Producers | Hirsch von Henford, Aldith Angharad St. George |
| Stage Manager | Rivkah Ströbele |
| Stage Crew | The Cast |
| Set Design and Construction | Eoin of Fell Hold, Margrethe Astrid Ravn Aldith Angharad St. George, Juan Santiago, Seamus Padraig O’Baiogheallain mì-Nàrach |
| Properties | The Cast |
| Costumes | The Cast |
| Camera Operator | Branwen ferch Emrys |
(Listed in order of character’s first appearance on stage after the Prologue)
Hirsch von Henford: “Memorize your lines ... no! Put that script down! ... aggghh!”
Charles (“Bonefinder”) Ravenstone: “It seemed like a good idea at the time.”
Wulfric of Creigull: “Ergot, shmergot. My rye bread is fine.”
Fionbharr O’Cathain: “Fools! They’ve laughed at me and my theories for the last time, ha-ha! I’ll show them all! Igor! Throw the red-handled DPDT switch marked ‘Plan M’, not the red-handled SPDT switched marked ‘Plan N’. NO! NOT THAT ONE! ... Here, let me show you ...”
Morgan Mac Eoin: “Oooh! Fire!”
Anahita al-Qurtubiyya bint abd al-Karim al-Fassi: “I knew I shouldn’t have served green meat at the last feast ...”
Juliana of Emerald Waters: “But it looks good like that!”
Margrethe Astrid Ravn: “I can help!”
Kiara nic Eoin: “Hi, daddy!”
Rose de Le Mans: “Oh look! A deer!”
Juan Santiago: “
Is this your
card?”
Iricus le Ferur: “When the fall is all there is, it matters.”
Anne of Ockham: “Sure! I'd love to try knitting with tiger hair.”
Caolann Sheaghdha Cameron: “If I had to do it all over again ... I would use more dynamite!” or “WHAT!?! It was just one measly ‘short’ joke. Haven’t they got a sense of humor?”
Original Nightshade: “That was great. Let’s try it at the next setting.” or “Is it supposed to be vibrating like that?”
Eoin of Fell Hold: “Look what I built!”
Frederick of Holland: “Fly, you fools!”
Seamus Padraig O’Baiogheallain mì-Nàrach: “Sure, I can do that.”
Ilia Filia Symeon: “You know ... maybe I shouldn’t have poked him with that pointy stick.”
Rivkah Ströbele: “Where’s my fruit knife?”
Aldith Angharad St. George: “Another script change????? Over my dead body!”
The Management would like to note that no animals, lungfish, vertebrates of any sort, or even squires were hurt in the making of this play.
(In addition, see "Note 3" below -- the list of "The Kingdoms" was on the back page of the program.)
Reviews:
"Anyone who missed the play should feel sad ... it was hysterical as well as touching. A wonderful morality play ... and not the least boring." -- Duchess Megan nic Alister of Thornwood.
"By the way, kudos again on the excellent play at Twelfth Night. You guys put a lot of work into it, and it showed in a very delightful way." -- Master George of Berwick, OP
The following reviews were the result of a "trolling" message on SCA-West ... thanks to everyone who gave me permission to post their reviews here:
"Oh, Wow!!!"Incredible!! Fantastic!!
"Someday I hope someone asks for my favor the way Damon [Bonefinder's character] asked for Iras' [Meg's character's] favor!!!!
"I loved the story ... and Hector [Juan's character] was a good and noble knight."
[Emma came back with more detail in a later message:]
"Some of the character moments were ... very intense ... like when Goubert [Seamus' character] tells Damon [Bonefinder's character] "I thought you had potential"... OUCH ..."Some of the archetypes are difficult to watch ... and I imagine they were difficult to write, as well ... but it was a really good story...
"Oh ... and the part where the knights are all watching the tourney, and Bran [Iricus' character] absentmindedly gives his lady his wallet ... that was *beautiful* ... Many of us can empathize with that moment too .. <smile>" -- Duchess Emma Fitzwilliam (formerly known as Talitha)
"I loved "Tale of Two Squires", and I think it is the best I have seen from the Golden Stags ... though that may be because it hit closer to home than Commedia delle 'Arte. I suppose it must have been mooed by sacred cows, if you know what I mean, but I thought it was timely, touching, and well done. Meg and Bonefinder especially gave a fine performance."Thank you for a wonderful play, and please pass this on to the rest of the Stags ..." -- Darja z Prahy
There have been a variety of comments made in person, all positive, which can't be quoted as we don't have exact quotes. I think my favorite was (Sir) Colin MacLear coming up to me after the show with tears in his eyes stating that he cried through the second and third acts ... Someone was reported to have said that they weren't sure until the last scene if there was going to be a "good guy" at the end of the show and they were a bit disconcerted. I also received a very nice phone call from (Sir) Richard of Aldertree where he and I talked about the play for about 10 minutes, and he was very glowing in his praise ... -- Hirsch
The following arrived in email (May 30, 2003) from Valgard Stonecleaver, who is studying to attain a PhD in Theatre in New York, and is a former Westerner. He makes some valid points in the text below, not to mention his praise at the end. This is here with Valgard's permission.You are wrong. A Tale of Two Squires is not a morality play. It lacks the central element necessary for a morality devine intervention. It may resemble some of the dual structure allegories of the 15th century (the two brothers, one takes the road to hell, the other the road to heaven), but it is too humanistic to be a medieval play.
What is it, then, if not a morality? Well, renaissance scholars, notably Thomas Sebillet, sometimes equated moralities with tragedies. Tragedies in this vein re: described as Morality plays starring kings, but this again lacks the firm hand of God (or Satan) rewarding and punishing. Don Giovani is certainly a morality. Faust even more so. The mouth of hell opens up in both.
Well, it has a happy ending, and the two lovers unite. This is an element of comedy. True comedy is always about young love triumphing over various obstacles, and the union of the two lovers is the comedic climax. This is certainly the case in Two Squires. Ut then how do we deal with the other problem, the squire who obviously falls from grace?
The answer is in the work of Battista Guarini, who wrote the Compendio della poesia tragicomedia in 1599, laying out the poetics for an entirely new type of drama, the Tragicomedy. This was considered by many (but by no means all) critics and poets of the renaissance as the highest form of dramatic poetry--complex, heavilly layered both in terms of theme and plot. From comedy it takes a happy ending, from tragedy it takes a serious tone. It eschews the bad parts of each it is pleasant without being lacivious, serious without being terrible. Most noteably, it threatens death but death never comes. This last idea was to be jetisoned by the Jacobeans, who developed tragicomedy into a type of thriller/horror genre. The greatest of the Spanish playwrights, Lope de Vega, championed a similar mixing of tragic and comedic elements, as of course did Shakespeare.
Structurally then, Two Squires then is a tragicomedy. Like many renaissance tragicomedies it contrasts two friends who start in the same place and have similar adventures which end in a competition between the two which leads to the elevation of one with the downfall or in some cases death of the other. If you haven't already (and I suspect you have) seen Shakespeare and Fletcher's The Two Noble Kinsmen, which is an adaptation of Chaucer's A Knight's Tale. Structurally, it is very similar to Two Squires.
All of which makes Two Squires the best play you guys have ever done, by far, and maybe the best SCA play written to date. --Val
If you saw the show (or even just read the script) and would like to send us a review, please feel free:
Notes:
1 PG-13? Why PG-13? Well, partially because having a ton of children watching the play can be distracting -- the performance last year was a bit odd, to put it mildly (we were worried they might try to join the actors on stage). Secondly, and the real PG-13 aspect of this -- the play is about SCA fighters. You have to have them speaking naturally, and there are some swear words which will be offensive to some parents (the kids might love them, but ...).
2 In the “credit where credit is due” department, the following members of the troupe helped with the script: Anne of Ockham, Hirsch von Henford, Iricus le Ferur, Juan Santiago, Rose de Le Mans, Margrethe Astrid Ravn, Seamus Padraig O’Baiogheallain mì-Nàrach, and Wulfric of Creigull.
In addition, various comments and suggestions were used, especially for (but not limited to) the on-stage fight sequence in Act III from Garth of Windhaven and Tatiana Nikolaevna Tumanova. The Lists rant came from details provided by Leticia de Scocia. This is of course not mentioning the fact that the printed version of the script the actors started with will be most assuredly modified between the beginning of rehearsal and performance by the cast as we rehearse ...
3 "Kingdom of the Jest" -- based on the following from the play Peermalion, written by Aldith Angharad St. George and performed by the Golden Stag Players in 1996. Details about this play are in the section noted in the Table of Contents on the left, "Play 13" ... (note that there are more Kingdoms in the SCA, and this has been updated to reflect the newer Kingdoms ...) This was also placed on the back of the program.