King Arthur & the Saxons
First performed on the 1st
October, 1977 at Foster Beck Watermill Inn, near Pateley
Bridge, this play, believe it or not,
was based on an opera called King Arthur, co-written by poet John Dryden and
composer Henry Purcell, staged in 1691/92 in London.
Team member Stuart Rankin
adapted the themes of the opera to flow along the lines of a traditional Hero
Combat play. A presenter set the scene,
the hero being King Arthur, King of the Britons, and the adversary Oswald, King of the Saxons.
Their struggle was supported by various magical figures, Guillemar,
Philadel, Grimbald and Merlin, who cast spells on each other in the struggle
for supremacy. This resulted in plenty
of fun and action with various “deaths”, the whole cast being saved at the end
by Merlin’s magic. The play finished off
with a rendition of the song “Harvest Home”, sung by King Arthur. From the collection of songs “Pills to Purge
Melancholy”, this song was written by Thomas D’Urfey around the time of the
original opera.
Much hilarity usually
resulted from the entrance of Guillemar – who was “mounted” on a duck! The whole structure was very “Reeves and
Mortimer” (before their time!) and the weight of the false legs at the front
were delicately balanced by a kettle full of stones hanging from a hook at the
back. In the premier performance, with
its own sense of perfect timing at a space in the dialogue, the hook decided to
give way and the kettle fell to the stone floor with a beautiful loud “plop”,
pitching the surprised Guillemar forward.
No-one could have timed it better and it was some minutes before the
play continued, with everyone including the cast, collapsed with laughter!!
Because of the nature of the
props, this play was usually reserved for concerts and festival appearances and
would probably be banned today in indoor venues because the pyrotechnics
involved would set off fire alarms!
Oswald: Chas Marshall, Merlin: Stuart
Rankin (with the bat-mobile!), King Arthur: John Burrell, Galahad: Dominic
Ward and the Presenter: Graham Bickerdike
This shows Grimbald: Arthur
Jackson, displaying Sprites and Fairies Union solidarity with Philadel: Dave Dearlove, with Galahad: Dominic
Ward, King Arthur: John Burrell
and the Presenter: Graham Bickerdike looking on.
The final shot shows Guillemar
“mounted” on the duck: Jim Mayer (with counter balancing kettle just visible!),
being taken on by Galahad: Dominic Ward
and King Arthur: John Burrell, with
Grimbald: Arthur Jackson and Philadel: Dave Dearlove
floundering in Grimbald’s Fen.
The pictures were taken on
Monday 21st August 1978 at the Bandstand, Whitby Folk Festival.
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