Programmes

Although Chanterye often tailors individual programmes to reflect the needs of promoters or the specific themes of festivals, here is a selection of programmes currently on offer:

Words and Music from the Middle Ages

This is a concert programme designed to give a flavour of the music of the later Middle Ages and of some of the English literature of the time.

No special prior knowledge is needed! A narrator will explain the context and offer brief comments on the concert items. Essential translations or summaries of the texts will be provided, though this is not an occasion when the audience will be expected to work hard!

See the cast from the May 4th 2002 production.

See the cast from the November 23rd 2002 production.

Read details of the Words and Music from the Middle Ages programme.

Gaudeamus

This is an entertainment in a series of medieval scenes and diverting interludes. Music features substantially.

Our medieval forebears enjoyed processions. So key moments of this production are marked by processions with music, both introspective and triumphal (in plainsong and full-blown polyphony). Liturgical and para-liturgical music was commonly used in settings like those presented here.

Medieval actors generally performed in what were to them contemporary clothes. So our dress is centred on the late 14th and early 15th Centuries.

The production happens as would the usual indoor entertainment or enactment in a late medieval great hall, Chapter House or similar venue. The first comic Interlude, for instance, is based on a scene from a play which quite possibly was first performed in the Great Hall of Lambeth Palace.

In medieval fashion, there are moments of high activity as well as more statuesque tableaux. Colour comes from the costumes, the variety of language (poetry as well as prose), the dances and diversions, and the music. And a sense of excitement and mystery derives from the use of the various spaces available for performance when as here, the production is not constrained by a rigidly fixed acting area.

See the cast from the November 17th 2001 production

Read details of the Gaudeamus programme.