Hays Daily News
Sunday, December 4, 2005

People 'Feast' their eyes

By Jessica Speer

After climbing the winding staircase of the Memorial Union, the well-dressed crowd was directed to the Black and Gold Room. A small orchestra sat in the corner of the room, playing such songs as "Hark the Herald Angels Sing." More and more people began to mill in, drinking punch and being merry.

It was time for the annual Madrigal Feaste at Fort Hays State University, a tradition that has taken place since 1964. Friday and Saturday's performances were an effort to recreate the major feasts as they were in 16th century England.

After a short while of visiting amongst each other, the crowd was greeted by the Lady of the Manor; Brenda Meder, and the Lord High Chamberlain, Bruce Bardwell. The Manor Hound, Marty, was with the couple. They greeted everyone and welcomed them to the fine evening of dining and entertainment.

The Manor Glosser, Terry Crull, approached the couple and expressed his concern that the masses that had gathered, who would soon be departing to the ballroom, would find themselves "like sardines." It was then decided that the people would be called upon according to the manor or castle name that was written on their ticket, leaving the room in small groups.

This year's Madrigal Feaste came with quite a few changes, courtesy of Crull.

The script-writer from many years past, Robert Luehrs, decided it was time to retire, and Crull is no stranger to the experience.

"I had had many experiences with a variety of different Madrigal Feastes in several different locations where I have taught and been a student," Crull said. "I took several different scripts and used (Luehrs') as a basis, and that's why he was still credited in the program...we used a lot of what had been done before."

While adding in some new things, Crull wanted to keep some of the old.

"It's always great in a piece like this to keep some familiar things. Some of the jokes and some of the lines were directly descendant from (the old) program," Crull said. "All of the fish puns in the other room were my creation, sorry about that."

Once in the ballroom, the people were treated to Gloucester shire Wassail, a toast made by the Lord and the Lady with a warm drink tasting of apples. Then came the ceremony of the Yule Log, with "Deck the Halls" being sung by the Manor (or Fort Hays) Singers.

"This was my first time going, and I thought the performers did a really great job," said Beth Sleichter; whose boyfriend was one of the Manor Singers.

After that came the presentation of the boar's head, with a special boar's head carol. While dining, the guests were treated to carols as the Manor Singers made their way from table to table.

Following this were the processional of the peacock and the presentation of the flaming pudding.

To end the evening, there was a short concert followed by the Lady's Farewell to her guests. "Silent Night" was then sung by the entire hall.

"It was fun. A lot of big surprises," student Josh McMahan said.

Reporter Jessica Speer can be reached at
(785) 628-1081, ext 139, or by e-mail at
jspeer@dailynews.net