Teens and tunes recreate Renaissance revelry on Nov. 23.
Bainbridge Island Teen Center and the Island Teachers Music Guild put a 16th-century spin on dining out in the first annual Renaissance fund-raiser feast to benefit both organizations.
“Dress oddly and eat with your fingers,” IMTG member and event co-coordinator Alan Simcoe said. “Here’s your chance.”
Guests at the event, to be held at Bainbridge Commons, will have a choice of today’s implements or the knives and fingers that were the predominant tools in the days of Henry the Eighth.
Contemporary manner-mongers might have a coronary at the helpful advice contained in a “courtesy book” of the period:
“Do not put your face in your food, snort or smack your lips while eating.
“Do not lick your greasy fingers or wipe them on your coat. Wipe them on the tablecloth.”
The dinner guests’ fantastic foibles will be supported by a cast of players.
Shannon Buxton, Teen Center coordinator, whose organization co-hosts the event to raise money for youth suicide prevention, notes that more than a dozen teens play the parts of friars, monks, beggars, jugglers, jesters and serving wenches – a part described by Simcoe as “a really popular role.”
The teens have borrowed costumes from Bainbridge Performing Arts and are making or renting others, Buxton says.
Simcoe says that he went to the Teen Center to find players who could imagine the period from the 14th to 16th century, still renowned for creative energy in the arts, because the kids who go there are likely to be creative.
“I could have gone to any of the youth groups, But I like their ‘over the top’ nonlinear energy. I like it that they are out of the ordinary,” said Simcoe, whose two daughters, Alaina and Marissa, often frequented the Teen Center.
In addition to jugglers and jesters, dinner music was a must for Renaissance revelry. Simcoe will play the period lute he built last spring with a grant from the Bainbridge Island Arts and Humanities Council.
“My main thing is actually the early music,” Simcoe said. “This event is a framework to have the music.
“Today we spend time filtering out all the extraneous noise and music. Then, it was a rare commodity.”
The menu is also a nod to authenticity.
“We knew they ate ‘small fowl,’” Buxton said. “I was teasing Alan that we would have to net starlings, but he didn’t want to go that far.”
But, Simcoe notes, the Renaissance preference for spicy food is respected, and rustic bread will be fresh-made in New Rose Cafe’s ovens. Fresh vegetables, roast potatoes and “pasties” – small shepherd’s pie-type pastries – will be served, along with something Simcoe has dubbed “Baldric’s surprise.”
“We did pull this one gastronomic punch,” Simcoe said. “I”ll just say it’s a turnip reference based on the BBC TV series, ‘Blackadder.’”
To put the meal in its proper setting, organizers plan a major transformation of the Commons.
“Forget what you know about the space,” Buxton said. “We are working hard to recreate Renaissance scenes. We are confident of being able to give it the right ‘feel.’”
Low lighting from electric candles will set the mood. Teen Center and IMTG are going to project images of Florence and Venice on some walls, and hang oriental rugs and tapestries to cover the rest.
While the Renaissance “caterers” will recreate the era’s traditional “U-shaped” table, Buxton says, the hierarchical arrangement of the time – with important guests “above the salt,” within reach of the seasoning, and the hoi poloi below – won’t be observed.
“I could not possibly use that much salt anyway,” Simcoe said.
After hands are wiped down, dinner guests will be treated to a concert. Simcoe’s Arundell Consort will regale diners with madrigals, accompanied by harpsichord, recorder, percussion guitar and lute.
Musicians from Seattle’s Early Music Guild will also demonstrate some early wind instruments, including the racket – an instrument that resembles an oboe with a bulge – and the recorder-like crumhorn. All are instruments IMTG hopes to build or buy with the evening’s proceeds.
“Rare instruments, unusual food and exotic atmosphere,” Simcoe said, “if combined with just a little imagination…will equal a trip to the fabled era of the Renaissance.”
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Enjoy a Renaissance feast and concert, 6:30 p.m. Nov. 23 at the B.I. Commons. Tickets: $50/family, $20/individual at the door or $40/family, $15/individual in advance, from Winslow Drug, Glass Onion, the Teen Center and IMTG. Advance purchasers receive the “Guide to Renaissance Fashion and Table Manners.” Information: 842-4120.
