Soggy fun at the Pop-up Globe

Under the greenwood tree,

Who loves to lie with me,

And turn his merry note,

Unto the sweet bird's throat,

Come hither, come hither, come hither:

Here shall he see

No enemy

But winter and rough weather.

Who doth ambition shun

And loves to live i' the sun,

Seeking the food he eats

And pleased with the food he gets,

Come hither, come hither, come hither:

Here shall he see

No enemy

But winter and rough weather.

~ As You Like It II.5

"Rough weather" at the Pop-up Globe this morning is stating it rather mildly. Torrential rain and inch-thick mud would be nearer the mark. This, however, did absolutely nothing to dampen the lively spirits of around 480 school children, some of them very small, who came to see As You Like It. Nor did the rain rust their voiceboxes, which laughed, booed, whistled, whooped, sang, screeched and screamed; the resulting cacophany was like feeding time at the zoo and, having been 'promoted' to working on the usher's two-way radio, meant that I couldn't hear a blessed word that was said on the other end... 

I do love school matinees though – they are such fun and it is really lovely to see so many twinkies enjoying Shakespeare. It must be wonderful to play to them as they are such a giving audience.

HUMANITIES POSTGRADUATE SEMINAR SERIES
MON 27 MARCH, NOON, PAT HANAN ROOM, ARTS 2

Fortune, Family and Faith: On the Trail of the Blackburns, 1400 – 1450

Nicholas and Margaret Blackburn senior
(detail from St Anne Window, All Saints North Street, York)
Photograph E. Bloomfield

Throughout the first half of the fifteenth century the Blackburn family – rich, astute and ambitious – were among the leading citizens in one of medieval England’s most important cities: York. The Blackburns were a mercantile family whose roots lay in Lancashire; during the fourteenth century they moved into Yorkshire and in the late 1390s to York itself, probably with the expectation of making their fortune there. From the detailed wills left by Nicholas Blackburn, the family patriarch, and his wife Margaret we know that this expectation was fulfilled. The wills reveal how the Blackburns’ lives were shaped by two over-arching concerns: faith and family. Linking and facilitating the two is fortune; the distribution of wealth stipulated by the wills illuminates the Blackburns’ relationship with both God and family, and is the means by which these relationships are expressed and delineated. 

Non Nobis

Non nobis Domine, Domine, 
Non nobis Domine,
Sed nomine,
Sed nomine,
Tuo da gloriam.

This old Latin hymn of thanksgiving, originally associated with the Knights Templar, was according to legend ordered by Henry to be sung after victory at the Battle of Agincourt:

Do we all holy rites.
Let there be sung Non Nobis and Te Deum,
The dead with charity enclos'd in clay,
And then to Calais, and to England then,
Where ne'er from France arriv'd more happy men.
~ Henry V IV.8.117-21.

Get thee hence down to the Pop-up Globe for a rousing performance of this and indeed of the whole play. Blood! Mud!! Canon!!! Flaming arrows!!!! Sword fights in full armour!!!!! Glorious poetry!!!!!

English PhD students' picnic

click to enlarge :)

Pop-Up Globe version 2

familiar faces ~ new faces ~ "Hey Mister Tally Man, Show Me Your Bananas" ~ banana plants in need of watering ~ bagpipes ~ jigs ~ Pasifika  ~ "Once more unto the breach" ~ Fluellen's Welsh accent that wasn't ~ sheep ~ sun ~ rain ~ a waterfall from the roof where the guttering failed ~ "this majestical roof fretted with golden fire" ~ blood ~ mud ~ teeth ~ laughter ~ tears ~ flaming arrows ~ cannon ~ "What fire is in mine ears?" ~ armour ~ sword fights ~ Tango ~ slapstick comedy ~ bawdy humour ~ drumbeats ~ gravel in your shoes ~ late nights ~ the draughty Upper Gallery ~ free parking!! ~ Health and Safety, even in NZ ~ ushering ~ fairy lights ~ trapdoor ~ the swing ~ Bardolph's hanging ~ colour ~ costumes ~ Messina ~ the wedding cake ~ ladders ~ poetry ~ wordplay ~ wigs ~ helmets ~ horns ~ a crown ~ people ~ Wirepa from "The Deadlands" cheering ~ dancing ~ flags ~ bunting ~ scaffolding ~ stairs ~"All the world's a stage" 

It's back...

Ash Wednesday

via

Exaudi nos, Domine, quoniam benigna est misericordia tua: secundum multitudinem miserationem tuarum respice nos, Domine. Salvum me fac, Deus: quoniam intraverunt aquae usque ad animam meam.  

~ Blessing of ashes