A viking Feast

yOver the past few weeks it seems we have been leaning toward Artaud as inspiration for our ideas. I really liked the idea of creating a really fruitful atmosphere for the audience so they can feel completely surrounded in a sensory experience.

We have spoken about the possibility of serving food and drink during the performance which I thought was a great idea as it would enable us to create authentic smells of the time.

Food for the viking's was considered a great hospitality and played an important part of viking life. The evening meal in fact was the main focus of entertainment, often in the form of storytelling!
We could stage the piece as though we are viking's telling the story of Beowulf at their evening meal?

I have researched some viking recipe's and have found a few really simple ones that we may be able to use if we do decide to incorporate this idea.

OATCAKES
1lb. wholemeal flour, 8oz. oatmeal, a good pinch of salt, 1tbsp. melted dripping or vegetable oil, water to mix.
mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl until you have a fairly wet dough. Cover with a damp cloth and leave out of the sun for about 30 minutes, by which time the dough will have stiffened. Flour your hands, break off walnut sized pieces of dough, and shape them into flat cakes. Get your griddle good and hot, or they will cook slowly and turn into hockey pucks! Cook the cakes quickly for about 30 seconds each side. Serve hot or cold.

BARLEY BREAD
1lb. barley flour, 1lb. wheat flour, good pinch of salt, 1 sachet of dried yeast, 1 tbsp. honey, water to mix.

Heat the honey and water by the edge of the fire until it reaches blood heat (you can stick your finger in it and it feels warm). Mix together the other ingredients in a large bowl, make a well in the centre, and pour in the warm water gradually, mixing with your hands until you have a firm dough. Cover with a damp cloth and leave in the sun for an hour or so, until well risen. Flour your hands and form the dough into several cakes. Place them on your warmed griddle (over the embers near the edge of the fire is the best place), and flatten them down slightly. Score a cross in the top with a knife. Cook the bread until it's fluffy all the way through, turning it several times.

I have also looked into what herbs the viking's would have used, as we could burn these or cook these to create an authentic smells throughout the piece. Popular herbs included Garlic, Mint and thyme.

 While looking into the viking's in general I also came across an article about their burial procedures which I thought was worth a read. I forget who it was that had the idea now, but I remember talking about maybe using a viking boat as part of our set if possible. One of the ways in which they would dispose of the dead was ship burial as dipicted in the painting below by Heinrich Semiradzki.

Another was cremation, where they would burn the dead in a huge pyre which would create alot of smoke to carry the dead to the afterlife. This could be our fire outside if we go with that idea.
We could use either of these ideas for our story.

 I particularly like the idea of the fire outside being a cremation ground and the procession into the theatre as a funeral march? The way I saw this working was if we started the story outside, at the end once Beowulf is dead, lead the audience into the theatre, and then tell his life story ( the main action) as his eulogy. Let me know your thoughts on this? I think it could be a really effective way of telling the story in an exciting and non linear way!!

(exmaple of burial boat from the viking musuem in york.)