The Christmas Revels 2005
The Twentieth Anniversary Production
Return with us to a time when great darkness was beginning to fade to the light; a time of rebirth. Ancient artistic and literary skills were being rediscovered and secular music began to hold an important place along with the sacred. It’s the time of the wassail bowl when the boar’s head was carried in state to the feast in the great hall, followed by minstrels and carolers. Reveler’s enjoyed “Twelfth Night cake” and crowned those who found the buried “treasure” in their sugar-iced slice the King of the Bean and Queen of the Pea. And the Lord of Misrule officiated over the bacchanalian Feast of Fools.
The
time is 15th century England and the place is Derbyshire’s
Haddon Hall.
For our twentieth anniversary production of The Christmas Revels, we
herald back to our first production at Mills College in 1986 where our
company made merry in the medieval style.
There will be wassailing, morris dancing, storytelling, and reveling of every sort. And a dragon! There must be a dragon. Actually there may be two dragons in this year’s celebration of the shortest day. St. George will have his work cut out for him.
We are also thrilled to announce that Ensemble Alcatraz has agreed to perform with us again this year. Susan Rode Morris (soprano), Kit Higginson (recorders and psaltery), Shira Kammen (fiddle), Danny Carnahan (Mandolin, Violin and cello), and Peter Maund (percussion) have been featured individually or together over the years and return to join our merry troop in celebrating this milestone year in our history. From the annual recitation of the hopeful “The Shortest Day” to the sheer delight of joining hands and hearts for the “Lord of the Dance” and filling the hall with our voices with the “Sussex Mummers’ Carol” and “The Twelve Days of Christmas”, we invite you to join us in ushering in a new era of Revels at a time when we certainly require it most.
“People need celebration. We need those wild and holy expressions of who we are which lift us out of isolation and into connection with each other. We need moments which inject the ordinary with awe and engage our capacities for the extraordinary. Celebration does that. And Revels does that.” - From About Revels by Dr. Elizabeth Lloyd Mayer, 1947-2005
PERFORMANCES OF THE CHRISTMAS REVELS
TAKE PLACE AT THE SCOTTISH RITE THEATER,
1547 LAKESIDE DRIVE, OAKLAND, CA
Friday, December 9 at 7:30 pm*
Saturday, December 10 at 1 pm* and 5 pm
Sunday, December 11 at 1 pm and 5 pm
Friday, December 16 at 7:30 pm
Saturday, December 17 at 1 pm and 5 pm
Sunday, December 18 at 1 pm and 5 pm
As a non-profit tax exempt organization all donations to the California Revels are deductible to the full extent of the law.
California Revels
337 17th Street #207
Oakland, CA 94612
Administrative Offices:
Phone: 510-452-9334
Fax: 510-452-9335
E-mail: calrevels@calrevels.org
Dirk Burns, Managing Director
