A first for Chetham's and a first for Manchester, as Manchester's oldest extant buildings and their 600-year history and heritage are celebrated by a weekend-long festival in and around those very buildings. A Medieval Festival for all the family,
Over the course of the weekend, a whole array of performances, workshops, tours and activities had been organised, bringing in performance specialists of their particular genres to bring authenticity to the event.
Many of the events overlapped with their timings, and at least one simply didn't take place at all, but I found that trying to schedule my day without knowing the lengths of the events very difficult. We were given starting times of each event in the festival programme, but not how long each event lasted. I sadly missed a couple of things which I was hoping to catch by being caught out by this.
What I did see though, I truly enjoyed, and there was a brilliant and friendly atmosphere throughout the day. Chetham's marshalls and staff omnipresent to help as necessary, and all the actors / performers I had the chance of chatting with were all more than happy to impart their knowledge of and interest in this period in history. Some effort had been made to try and "Medievalify" the central courtyard with banners and tents, with some staff even wandering around in costume.
Many of the events overlapped with their timings, and at least one simply didn't take place at all, but I found that trying to schedule my day without knowing the lengths of the events very difficult. We were given starting times of each event in the festival programme, but not how long each event lasted. I sadly missed a couple of things which I was hoping to catch by being caught out by this.
What I did see though, I truly enjoyed, and there was a brilliant and friendly atmosphere throughout the day. Chetham's marshalls and staff omnipresent to help as necessary, and all the actors / performers I had the chance of chatting with were all more than happy to impart their knowledge of and interest in this period in history. Some effort had been made to try and "Medievalify" the central courtyard with banners and tents, with some staff even wandering around in costume.
I was able to experience two interesting and informative tours: one which took us through the downstairs area of the old building, including the inner courtyard and Baronial Hall, learning about the people who had forced changes on the building over the centuries, and those who lived there; whilst the second tour took us to the beautiful library full of ancient tomes, locked in tiny one-ended corridors, and the reading room / Evening Prayer room where Marx sat drafting out the Communist Manifesto! Although no prior booking was required for the former of these, the group size was simply too large for the areas we walked through, and I had difficulty hearing if standing towards the rear. The Library tour was much more successful in this regard.
I was fortunate enough to watch a performance by Horrible Histories of Barmy Britain in The Stoller Hall (separate review), and catch the latter end of a performance by the Chetham's Choristers singing a selection of choir music through the centuries. York Waits were outside for most of the day playing period instruments, and their music carried across the courtyard completing the Medieval atmosphere.
Also outisde were Historia Normannis, a group of Medieval re-enactors with a series of stalls (leather goods, food, weaponry etc) and they also performed certain medieval events throughout the day. I saw them give a demonstration of how a knight wore and put on his armour, and a talk about Medieval costumes and fashion. Both pitched at a lovely level for children to be interested in and enjoy.
Another tent was displaying (zoo-like) a selection of birds of prey. I was rather expecting (nay hoping) that they would allow people to wear a glove and have the bird rest on their hands at least, or even, at best, have a flight display. Obviously the practicalities of either of these activities would have been prohibitive, but I did feel a little let down that they were just "on show".
My favourite event in the whole day though was quite simply The Fool's Puppet Theatre. This was something akin to a Medieval version of Punch And Judy, with one person (hidden) manipulating the puppets whilst our enigmatic storyteller interacts with his audience and tells his story. His engagement with his target audience (youngsters) was superb, all the children adored him and the performance, and this was so refreshing and a delight to witness. Absolutely superb.
Happening throughout the day at various locations (a helpful map is provided on entry), were a photo booth, music workshops, storytelling, giant chess, a design-a-shield competition, and staying only for the first hour or so, some stilt-walkers and a juggler. There was also a performance (indoors) by Manchester Baroque. Sadly I did not get the opportunity of experiencing any of these listed here.
There was also a buffet tent serving beverages and paninis / hot dogs. However, the icing on the cake would have been to have had a tent serving Medieval food and a jug of mead. (Maybe next year?)
There were a couple of teething problems with this festival, I would be lying if I were to say otherwise; but all things considered (and the organisation of such an event must have been a massive head-ache for someone at the best of times) this was a huge success. It proved more popular I think, than the school had envisaged, and not enough provision had been made to keep us all dry should the weather have turned inclement; but again, these are things that can only be learned by experience. All things considered, a very varied and well-planned event with lots of diverse and interesting activities for all ages. I truly hope that the school decides to continue their idea of providing such a festival annually, and I look forward to an even bigger and better event next year.
Reviewer - Matthew Dougall
on - 25.9.21
Also outisde were Historia Normannis, a group of Medieval re-enactors with a series of stalls (leather goods, food, weaponry etc) and they also performed certain medieval events throughout the day. I saw them give a demonstration of how a knight wore and put on his armour, and a talk about Medieval costumes and fashion. Both pitched at a lovely level for children to be interested in and enjoy.
Another tent was displaying (zoo-like) a selection of birds of prey. I was rather expecting (nay hoping) that they would allow people to wear a glove and have the bird rest on their hands at least, or even, at best, have a flight display. Obviously the practicalities of either of these activities would have been prohibitive, but I did feel a little let down that they were just "on show".
My favourite event in the whole day though was quite simply The Fool's Puppet Theatre. This was something akin to a Medieval version of Punch And Judy, with one person (hidden) manipulating the puppets whilst our enigmatic storyteller interacts with his audience and tells his story. His engagement with his target audience (youngsters) was superb, all the children adored him and the performance, and this was so refreshing and a delight to witness. Absolutely superb.
Happening throughout the day at various locations (a helpful map is provided on entry), were a photo booth, music workshops, storytelling, giant chess, a design-a-shield competition, and staying only for the first hour or so, some stilt-walkers and a juggler. There was also a performance (indoors) by Manchester Baroque. Sadly I did not get the opportunity of experiencing any of these listed here.
There was also a buffet tent serving beverages and paninis / hot dogs. However, the icing on the cake would have been to have had a tent serving Medieval food and a jug of mead. (Maybe next year?)
There were a couple of teething problems with this festival, I would be lying if I were to say otherwise; but all things considered (and the organisation of such an event must have been a massive head-ache for someone at the best of times) this was a huge success. It proved more popular I think, than the school had envisaged, and not enough provision had been made to keep us all dry should the weather have turned inclement; but again, these are things that can only be learned by experience. All things considered, a very varied and well-planned event with lots of diverse and interesting activities for all ages. I truly hope that the school decides to continue their idea of providing such a festival annually, and I look forward to an even bigger and better event next year.
Reviewer - Matthew Dougall
on - 25.9.21
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