A group of us make our way to the castle and are passed by
cast members who need to be there before we are!
We are greeted by a piper in full regalia,
before we are invited to cross the “drawbridge” and climb the narrow spiral
staircase to the entrance hall.
We are
handed a beautiful pottery cup with mead and are directed to move to the far
end of the room.
In the center a
gentlewoman is playing the Irish harp and her companion is playing the
violin.
Such moving and evocative
music!
They entertain us until everyone
has arrived for the dinner.
Then the
king and his lady greet us, welcoming the multitudes, while another gentlewoman
passes around “friendship bread” which each person dips into salt to protect us
while we’re in the castle.
A couple is chosen from the audience to be the Lord and
Lady, and to preside over the evening’s
festivities. They have crowns and
special seats and everything! Then the
madrigal singers welcome us with song before we descend to the great hall.
We have an assigned table and the ticket lady seems to have
selected the one that is likely to be less crowded! There are four empty places by the time we
are all settled and we are all able to spread out a bit. The table has pitchers of water, red wine,
and white wine, and silver plates of bread, and the feasting begins. The mead, of course, is long gone!
Before each course, the butler (turns out he’s not really
the king!) or one of his minions introduces the delicacy and has the Lord taste
test it.
The first course is a soup
which bares a strong resemblance to the one I just had;
glad I like it!
There are no spoons and we all slurp merrily
from our bowls.
Well, most of us
do.
The ambient noise is quite
surprising until you realize how the walls and ceiling reverberate the laughter
and chatter of a hundred people!
 |
| When we finish with our ribs, we put our "daggers" in one of these large wooden bowls. |
Before the next course, a member of the audience it thrown
into the dungeon!
He goes all the way
outside!!
Apparently he and his family
have been here all day and not only that, they’ve been here before!!
The second course is spare ribs and we receive a dagger to
use on them and a large wooden bowl for the bones.
During much of the meal we are treated to harp music, when
it can be heard over the hubbub.
Before
the third course, the butler is forced to make sure there is no poison in the
main course!
Happily for all, he
survives and we receive plates filled with chicken, carrots, turnips, and
rutabagas.
There is a separate
platter
filled with potatoes for us all
to share, just in case there isn’t enough food on our over-flowing dinnerware!
The pitchers are continually refilled, so no one should go
dry! One member of the audience is
accused, by the Lord, of trifling with one of the court ladies and his
punishment is to sing a song on the stage!
He’s pretty clever and starts “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” and
everyone joins in!
The final course is a dessert, as one would expect! It was a custard with apple pieces in it,
cream on top, and a graham-cracker crust underneath. (Good for those of us who are really avoiding
gluten now!)
After dinner there is a full half hour of beautiful
madrigals, ending with “Danny Boy”.
One
was in the Irish language and was quite beautiful.
During the program, the butler announces that
it is the last show for the violinist.
He is going to Bahrain to teach music!
For those who require it, there is coffee and tea
downstairs, and more mead. The problem
is you have to buy it in a bottle! We
opt for going out the other exit and heading home. It’s pretty darn late and our flight leaves
in the morning. Boohoo.
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