Glamalot

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Glamalot: Knights in white satin is a satirical theatre production originally performed at the Lyric Theatre in Brisbane on 18 January - 3 February 1996. [1] The show was produced by the Queensland Performing Arts Trust which donated $25,000, the door takings from the final performance, to the Queensland AIDS Council. [2] The managing artistic director was David Pyle and the director was Sean Mee. The production featured more than 60 performers on stage and a 9-piece rock band. [3] Glamalot was described as "a wickedly wonderful send-up of the Arthurian legend and the world of phoney political promises". [4]

Contents

History

Glamalot was the final of six plays staged by ToadShow Pty Ltd between 1985 and 1996. All productions blended two well-known stories and interspersed the story with popular songs while satirising local politics and providing social comment. Glamalot took story elements from the legend of King Arthur and contemporary Queensland politics. The final performance of the production was on 3 February 1996, the same day as the Mundingburra by-election. [5] The Labor Government lost the by-election which resulted in a change of government. In his farewell speech Premier Wayne Goss quoted Glamalot saying under his leadership for "one brief shining moment" Queensland had experienced good government. [6]

ToadShow had produced five musicals prior to Glamalot – The Paisley Pirates of Penzance, Conway Christ Redneck Superstar, Hound of Music, SherWoodstock and Phantoad of the Opera. [5] Theatre critic John Harris said, "The musicals are unique to Brisbane, conceived and written by a combination of talents undoubtedly unlike any to be found anywhere else in the world. They employ music with a rock beat, satire with a light touch, and casts of dozens, scores, or hundreds, depending upon the venue." [7]

Synopsis

ACT 1

The Black Knight and Mordred are preparing for a challenge. The first man to pull the sword from the stone will win the hand in marriage of Queen Guenevere, become king and win a year's supply of beer. Meantime Sir Kay and her bumbling squire Arthur are the first to arrive at the site of the sword in the stone. Sir Kay is unhappy because Arthur has forgotten to bring her sword. While she goes off to find another weapon, Merlin the magician casts a spell on Arthur who easily pulls the sword from the stone. A crowd arrives to see the contest but it's all over, Merlin declares Arthur the once and future king. Queen Guenevere arrives to meet her king but the situation is awkward. The Black Knight and Mordred immediately begin plotting to overthrow the king. To combat the dark forces, Merlin recommends Arthur implement good government and a jousting competition to be called the All Righteous League (ARL). Arthur calls for all the knights across the land to assemble at Glamalot to audition for the ARL. Following the auditions, Arthur meets Guenevere by the lake but they are interrupted by the knights who are fishing at the lake. Arthur starts fishing but instead of catching a fish, he pulls out the Lady of the Lake who is not happy. The next day the Black Knight and Mordred are still plotting. Famed knight Sir Lancelot arrives to join the ARL. By chance he meets Queen Guenevere and the two fall immediately in love. The Knights of the Round Table assemble for the big game. They think they can't lose but they do. In the ensuing chaos, Mordred stabs Merlin to death.

ACT 2

It's the off-season of the ARL jousting competition and the knights are bored. Arthur hears the voice of God telling him to send the knights on a quest to find the Holy Grail. Hoping to strike while the Knights of the Round Table are away, the Black Knight and his followers meet with Sir Rupert the Blackhearted who has plans to set up a rival jousting competition called the Supertable. With the dark forces gathering, the knights away and his plans in disarray, Arthur is dejected. The Lady of the Lake appears. She summons Merlin back from the dead. Together, the Lady of the Lake and Merlin summon back the Knights of the Round Table. The knights arrive just in time to do battle with the dark forces but there are many deaths. Surrounded by carnage, his kingdom lost, Arthur must travel to Avalon. Arriving in Avalon, Arthur finds all the good and bad knights have revived and are enjoying a barbecue together.

Music

Cast

Reception

Paul Galloway said Glamalot was an "ungainly hybrid of pantomime and rock eisteddfod with a broad larrikin streak…" [8] Alison Cotes said "The theatrical year has started with a bang – a very silly bag, but a wonderfully entertaining one at that." [4] Writing in The Courier-Mail, Des Partridge said "It's tough, sitting there and having to constantly fight the urge to leap into the aisles and start dancing." [9]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Guinevere</span> Arthurian legend character

Guinevere, also often written in Modern English as Guenevere or Guenever, was, according to Arthurian legend, an early-medieval queen of Great Britain and the wife of King Arthur. First mentioned in popular literature in the early 12th century, nearly 700 years after the purported times of Arthur, Guinevere has since been portrayed as everything from a fatally flawed, villainous and opportunistic traitor to a noble and virtuous lady. Many records of the legend also feature the variably recounted story of her abduction and rescue as a major part of the tale.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mordred</span> Character in Arthurian legend

Mordred or Modred is a major figure in the legend of King Arthur. The earliest known mention of a possibly historical Medraut is in the Welsh chronicle Annales Cambriae, wherein he and Arthur are ambiguously associated with the Battle of Camlann in a brief entry for the year 537. Medraut's figure seemed to have been regarded positively in the early Welsh tradition and may have been related to that of Arthur's son. As Modredus, Mordred was depicted as Arthur's traitorous nephew and a legitimate son of King Lot in the pseudo-historical work Historia Regum Britanniae, which then served as the basis for the following evolution of the legend from the 12th century. Later variants most often characterised Mordred as Arthur's villainous bastard son, born of an incestuous relationship with his half-sister, the queen of Lothian or Orkney named either Anna, Orcades, or Morgause. The accounts presented in the Historia and most other versions include Mordred's death at Camlann, typically in a final duel, during which he manages to mortally wound his own slayer, Arthur. Mordred is usually a brother or half-brother to Gawain; however, his other family relations, as well as his relationships with Arthur's wife Guinevere, vary greatly.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lady of the Lake</span> Enchantress and sorceress in Arthurian legend

The Lady of the Lake is a name or a title used by several either mermaid or mermaid-like but human enchantresses in the Matter of Britain, the body of medieval literature and mythology associated with the legend of King Arthur. She plays several important roles in many stories, including providing Arthur with the sword Excalibur, eliminating Merlin, raising Lancelot after the death of his father, and helping to take the dying Arthur to Avalon. Different sorceresses known as the Lady of the Lake appear concurrently as separate characters in some versions of the legend since at least the Post-Vulgate Cycle and consequently the seminal Le Morte d'Arthur, with the latter describing them as a hierarchical group, while some texts also give this title to either Morgan or her sister.

<i>Excalibur</i> (film) 1981 epic medieval fantasy film by John Boorman

Excalibur is a 1981 epic medieval fantasy film directed, cowritten and produced by John Boorman, that retells the legend of King Arthur and the knights of the Round Table, based loosely on the 15th-century Arthurian romance Le Morte d'Arthur by Thomas Malory. It stars Nigel Terry as Arthur, Nicol Williamson as Merlin, Nicholas Clay as Lancelot, Cherie Lunghi as Guenevere, Helen Mirren as Morgana, Liam Neeson as Gawain, Gabriel Byrne as Uther and Patrick Stewart as Leondegrance. The film is named after the legendary sword of King Arthur that features prominently in Arthurian literature. The film's soundtrack features the music of Richard Wagner and Carl Orff, along with an original score by Trevor Jones.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Knights of the Round Table</span> King Arthur and order of chivalry in Arthurian romance

The Knights of the Round Table are the legendary knights of the fellowship of King Arthur that first appeared in the Matter of Britain literature in the mid-12th century. The Knights are an order dedicated to ensuring the peace of Arthur's kingdom following an early warring period, entrusted in later years to undergo a mystical quest for the Holy Grail. The Round Table at which they meet is a symbol of the equality of its members, who range from sovereign royals to minor nobles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bedivere</span> Legendary Arthurian knight

Bedivere is one of the earliest characters to be featured in the legend of King Arthur, originally described in several Welsh texts as the one-handed great warrior named Bedwyr Bedrydant. Arthurian chivalric romances, inspired by his portrayal in the chronicle Historia Regum Britanniae, portray Bedivere as a Knight of the Round Table of King Arthur who serves as Arthur's marshal and is frequently associated with his brother Lucan and his cousin Griflet as well as with Kay. In the English versions, Bedivere notably assumes Griflet's hitherto traditional role from French romances as the one who eventually returns Excalibur to the Lady of the Lake after Arthur's last battle.

<i>Camelot</i> (musical) Stage musical

Camelot is a musical with music by Frederick Loewe and lyrics and a book by Alan Jay Lerner. It is based on the legend of King Arthur as adapted from the 1958 novel The Once and Future King by T. H. White.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gareth</span> Knight of the Round Table

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<i>Arthur Rex</i> 1978 novel by Thomas Berger

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References

  1. ↑ Jones, Anne; Whyte, Robert, eds. (2019). Eccentric voices: a scrapbook of Brisbane cultural history 1965-1995. ToadShow. ISBN   978-0-6485191-1-9. OCLC   1130085066.
  2. ↑ "Glamalot donates to AIDS Council". Brother Sister. No. 65. February 23, 1996.
  3. 1 2 3 ToadShow. Glamalot Program (1996). Print.
  4. 1 2 Cotes, Alison (January 25, 1996). "Relics revived for rewrite of history". City News: 8.
  5. 1 2 Houghton, Kris (January 7, 1996). "Knight moves". Sunday Mail Magazine: 3.
  6. ↑ Emerson, Scott (February 16, 1996). "Premier records one brief shining moment". The Australian: 2.
  7. ↑ Harris, John (July 27, 1989). "Chance to hit the big time". The Sun.
  8. ↑ Galloway, Paul (January 31, 1996). "Knight life". Brisbane News.
  9. ↑ Partridge, Des (January 20, 1996). "Raunchy knights you'll remember". The Courier-Mail: 18.
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