Performance of the Mediaeval Play, "Ye Good Old Bard"

For our final project, my team and I worked together to write and perform a medieval play. Our play's storyline is based on a Squire that dreams of Knighthood but cannot achieve her dream due to her gender. We spent weeks putting ideas together to form the final draft of the script, and the costume and design teams started to work hard on bringing our script to life. While the costume and design teams were hard at work, the team of actors rehearsed for many hours in a lovely stairwell in the basement of Togo Salmon Hall. Our play takes the audience through this Squire's journey on a quest to rescue the Queen, all while disguised as a man. Our Squire comes across many of creatures in her travels: a troll, a fairy, and of course, a dragon. Our Squire proceeds with caution and makes her way through all obstacles, leading her to her big reveal that she is, in fact, a woman. Our story ends with the Squire completing her quest and being deemed a knight by the King and Queen. Our story defies medieval gender norms while showcasing the hard reality of what those norms entailed.

Talia Manning