Experience 10
Rehearsal and Festival Preparations

Practicing one's skills is a required element of theatre production. In this onstage experience, students rehearse their parts and prepare food for their medieval festival and feast.

Rehearsals for theatre can take several forms. Typically, the first rehearsal is a read-through where actors sit around a table and the director leads the cast as they read aloud the entire script. Blocking rehearsals map out the actors' movements on stage. Next, actors tryout various approaches and polish their performances in working rehearsals. Technical rehearsals occur for the sound, lighting, props and scenery crews. And lastly, dress rehearsals are full staged performances, but without the audience.

Feasts were elaborate occasions in medieval times. Drums and trumpets sounded and servers paraded out with platters of impressive food. Elaborate castle or ship sculptures were made out of bread dough. Roasted peacocks could be decorated with some of their original feathers. Fruits and vegetables were carved into unique shapes. And for dessert, delicate treats called subtleties were molded out of multiple colored jellies, pastry or ground almond paste (marzipan). If food looked too ordinary, the guests felt insulted! 

The Mental Joust: How do actors perfect their performances? What happens in a rehearsal? What preparations are needed for a medieval feast? How can we prepare the setting for our medieval feast and festival?

Time: 1-1/2 hours 

Materials: A Medieval Feast by Aliki, Book of Days, plastic gloves, plastic wrap, wax paper, trays, defrosted bread dough, shortening, ‘wigglers’ gelatin, whole carrots, celery stocks, food grate, paring knife, bowl of ice water, cookie cutters, sliced bread, sandwich spread, knife to spread with, a variety of garnishes for sandwiches (e.g., thin slices of tomato or olives, mustard, cheese, herbs, or decorative toothpicks), pickling cucumbers, small dark beans, pumpkin-carving kit (or paring knives), gum drops, rolling pin, unfrosted cup cakes, a variety of colored frostings and cake toppings, the book Play with your Food by Joost Elffers (optional), honey, nutmeg, orange or lemon, pitcher. 

Worthy Words: feast, subtleties (sut-ul-tees), trencher

Procedure for Rehearsal:

1. We have learned that it takes the talents of many people working together to make a theatrical performance happen. Every element is planned. The scenery, props, costumes, script, music, sound effects and characterizations are carefully coordinated in order to make theatre come alive. Today, you are going to finish writing and rehearsing your performances.
2. Explain: First you will need to introduce yourself as a medieval character to the king/queen and then make your presentation in character. You could say something like, “Good morning, your majesty. I am _____, a humble stonemason. I would like to share with you the latest in castle design. Let me show you a model of what I could build for you. This is the best castle design for your safety and comfort even during a siege! Notice the rounded corners that hold up far better than square corners against catapult stones …”
   

Or you may want to entertain the king/queen. Again, introduce yourself or your whole group, as your medieval character. “Your majesty, we are honored to be performing for your pleasure today. We call ourselves the ‘Porridge Puppeteers’ because we perform for our supper. I am ____, and this is _____. We are puppeteers who have traveled far to bring you a story of adventure and comedy …” 


Ask students to record their introductions in their Book of Days.

3. Ask students to pair up and practice performing their introductions for each other. (If students are making presentations in small groups, have each group member practice making the introduction.)

1. Read A Medieval Feast by Aliki to the class. 
2. What do you remember about how food was prepared and presented? The cooks had to make the food look impressive and decorative, or else the guests would think they had not gone to enough trouble. What can we do to make our feast’s food look ornamental?
3. Discuss ways the class can make a feast for the following day’s celebration given the supplies the students have brought in.
4. Set up stations where students can prepare food. Each station will need at least one adult helper to ensure safety and cleanliness. When a group of students is finished at one station they can rotate to the next station. The following are some examples of food stations: 

Station #1 uses thawed bread dough to make bread sculptures and/or pretzels. Grease cookie sheet with shortening. Divide dough into manageable pieces for students to shape into various forms. For pretzels: Roll each lump between your hands to make a thin rope, about 18- to 20-inches long. Arrange the rope on the cookie sheet in the shape of a pretzel. Cover with paper towels and let bread rise for at least an hour. Bake about 15 minutes in 370-degree oven for pretzels. (Thicker bread sculptures may take a longer baking time.) 

Note: Pretzels were rewards given to children who learned their prayers. Two children would make silent wishes on pretzels by holding onto the loops and pulling. It was believed whoever pulled the largest piece would get his or her wish!

Station #2 makes multicolored “wigglers” gelatin. Cut shapes out of hardened gelatin with cookie cutters. Arrange shapes on a tray. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate. 

Station #3 creates celery and carrot curls. Clean whole carrots and celery stocks. Use the slicer portion of a food grater to cut curled slices of carrots. Then place carrot curls in cold water to keep fresh. Cut celery stalks into sections about 3-inches long. Cut one end of the celery lengthwise into thin strips (figure A and B) and place in ice water to make the frayed end curl. Refrigerate.

Station #4 carves cucumber critters. Wash cucumbers thoroughly. Pickling cucumbers can be used as well as the larger varieties. Carefully carve away sections of the cucumber to leave four legs, a tail and a head (figure C and D). The tools in a pumpkin-carving kit are safer than using a paring knife to carve with. Use beans as eyes. Place on a tray, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate.

Station #5 makes finger sandwiches. Cut the centers of bread slices with cookie cutters. Apply sandwich or cheese spread on the bread, and decorate the tops of the sandwiches. Decorations could be made from parsley, sliced tomato, sliced olives, mustard, cheese or a decorative toothpick. 
Place on a tray decorated with lettuce, cherry tomatoes, edible flowers like pansies or flowering herbs like dill and thyme. Refrigerate.

Station #6 decorates cup cakes. Have unfrosted cupcakes ready to be decorated by students using a variety of frosting colors and pastry toppings. Students could also roll gumdrops flat with a rolling pin between two sheets of wax paper. Flattened gumdrop “petals” can be pinched together to make candied flower subtleties. Cover with plastic wrap. 

Ingredients: 2 quarts cold water, 1/2 to 1 cup honey, 1 lemon or orange, nutmeg, ice cubes. 

Mix honey and water in a pitcher to taste. Wash lemon or orange, slice it, and add to mead. Sprinkle with nutmeg and chill with ice cubes. In medieval times people did not have sugar, only honey; and spices were extremely valuable, so only the wealthy could enjoy them.

Tips to the Teacher: Play with your Food by Joost Elffers provides a wealth of whimsical examples for making healthy food playful and interesting.

Past and Present:
The art of storytelling was an important source of entertainment in the Middle Ages. Stories from the Bible, along with tales of Robin Hood and King Arthur are not only told today, but were popular in medieval times as well. What popular stories of today may be told hundreds of years from now?
Some props were really played up on the medieval stage. For example, dummy figures were used to simulate torture and death. If a character was to be burned at the stake, a dummy stuffed with animal bones and internal organs would be tossed into the flames, giving off a realistic stench! This would seem excessive in terms of what the audience would need to experience, however in what ways is violent entertainment still a concern today?

Exhibit Connection: Learn make-up techniques at The Children's Museum's exhibit Onstage and Behind the Scenes.

References & Resources:

Aliki. A Medieval Feast. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell, 1983.

Carlson, Laurie. Days of Knights and Damsels: An Activity Guide. Chicago: Chicago Review Press, 1998.

Elffers, Joost. Play with your Food. New York: Stewart, Tabori and Chang, 1997.

Howarth, Sarah. How Do We Know About the Middle Ages? New York: Peter Bedrick Books, 1995.

Langley, Andrew. Eyewitness Books: Medieval Life. New York: Dorling Kindersley, 2000.

Oakes, Catherine. Exploring the Past: The Middle Ages. New York: Gulliver Books, 1989.

Peterson, Lenka and Dan O'Connor. Kids take the Stage. New York: Watson-Guptill Publications, 1997

Steel, Philip. Castles. New York: Kingfisher, 1995.