Bringing 'King Arthur' to new audiences

In "King Arthur: A Picnic Operetta," the monarch is nearing retirement age and wants a state-of-the-art jousting stadium to be his legacy.

Arthur has the backing of the Knights of the Round Table, a powerful clan of world leaders, but the younger set isn't so impressed. The Saxons, who represent the millennial generation, are underemployed and deep in debt, and a stadium doesn't seem like the answer to their problems. So, they band together to fight it. Their weapon is black magic.

Things come to a climax in the "Super Joust," akin to a medieval version of the Super Bowl. It pits the Saxons/millennials against the more established Britons/baby boomers.

"King Arthur," the latest opera/culinary production of the Mixed Precipitation company, runs through Sept. 21 at various community gardens and urban farms across the metro area. That includes the Robbinsdale Community Garden on Saturday, Sept. 13.

Although the plotline adheres to Henry Purcell's 1691 opera, Mixed Precipitation gives it a new slant with the addition of British punk music. The 20-member all-ages cast, including the musicians, also sports punk fashions.

Throughout the show, a handful of actors and volunteers dish out a five-course tasting menu to the audience; hence the picnic aspect. Sharing the locally harvested food creates "social connectivity" among the theatergoers, said the company's artistic director, Scotty Reynolds.

Reynolds set out to introduce the art form to new audiences. That's why he started the company that stages an opera every summer. Reynolds likes the epic quality of opera. "The characters and situations are outlandish and encourage indulgent performances," he said.

Retooling the script

For the company's sixth season, Reynolds wanted to do a baroque opera. The company's previous shows have focused on works from other periods. Also, "King Arthur" marks the first time that Mixed Precipitation has tackled an English-language opera, according to Reynolds. John Dryden wrote the libretto for the original opera.

Unlike later operas, the "semi-opera" has plenty of spoken lines. In fact, none of the main characters does any singing. Rather, the crooning "often occurs between acts with gods and goddesses playing out some sort of allegory," Reynolds said.

As such, the show doesn't require the booming voices and large orchestras that entered opera later on, he said.

Hits from Iggy Pop, the Clash and the Sex Pistols are sprinkled in, on top of the original songs. "The anti-establishment energy of punk music seemed like a great route to go," especially with its connection to modern British history, Reynolds said.

That feeds into the story. Although the underemployed Saxons appear grungy, especially alongside the image-conscious king, they have a "pure humanist agenda," Reynolds said. It deals with "the poor vs. the aristocracy."

Reynolds collaborated with Mike Harris and Marya Hart to retool the script. He wanted to get away from the nationalist themes in the original writing. They thought about current events to plug into the plot.

The generation gap between baby boomers and millennials seemed significant. "I think we're going to face a huge dilemma as the baby boomers start to retire," he said.

Also, the jousting stadium lent "opportunities for fun, sporty and competitive theatrics," Reynolds said.

"King Arthur" also makes a point about local "sports stadiums and community gardens as places where communities … make memories, have fun, eat food," he said.

Although the script poses serious questions, it's also funny. The show contains jokes about the polar vortex, millennial musical preferences, an ESPN-like play-by-play of the Super Joust and quips about social media. "It'll take more than a Twitter account to take down King Arthur," one line near the beginning goes.

Food as a character

In designing the menu, Nick Schneider, the show's head chef, examined the setting, period, language, culture, actions and emotional drivers of the plot.

Throughout the show, the foods are thematically linked to the story line, "almost like another character," Schneider said.

He sought to evoke old British foods. Schneider stumbled upon "compost," a pickled vegetable and fruit salad from the 14th century. It may be the oldest written English recipe. The fact that it was called "compost" was fitting, since "we like to play with garden and ecology themes," Schneider said, adding that it's used in the show as stadium fare.

Alluding to the conjuring of "earthly spirits" near the beginning, "I use the most earthly of food," or the potato, he said.

Suzi Gard, the sous chef for the company, concocted the frozen plum treat that dovetails with the "chilling spell issued by one of the story's troublemaking spirits," Schneider said.

Every year, the chef tries to think up new ways to deliver the food using stage tricks and props, in addition to the script and acting, Schneider said. "This year is the first year I got a chance to recommend dry ice as an introduction to the frozen plum dish," he said.

In general, the food adds a playful touch. "It's fun and makes people laugh the way it's introduced and expressed in the show," he said.

It also reinforces a sense of place. For a production with a minimal set and bare-bones props, "It manifests the physical nature of the garden or farm in an immediate and gustatory way," Schneider said.

'Doing good'

Maggie Lofboom, who plays Guinevere, works in a landscape nursery. Passionate about gardening, local food and singing, "I love the concept" behind Mixed Precipitation, she said, describing its operas as "fresh and vibrant."

Performing in a garden setting means that random things can happen, like a dog might run through the "stage," or it could rain. Those unpredictable conditions help keep her acting skills sharp.

"Just being part of a small community group that engages people from the ground up" makes it meaningful, Lofboom said.

Also, she admires how Guinevere is the heroine. For the scenes involving stage combat, she wears football shoulder pads and "eye black," which was her idea, she said. To get into character, she watched old footage of the rockers on YouTube.

Elizabeth Windnagel, a formally trained classical singer, said it's fun to "rock out" in the show. As Philidel, an impish character who stirs up trouble, she said, "This is the toughest I'll ever look," referring to her Goth-like dress.

The show "does so much for classical music and the community," she said, adding that for a performer, it's empowering. "You want to feel like you are doing good," she said, adding that this show fits the bill.

Anna Pratt is a Minneapolis freelance writer. She can be reached at annaprattjournalist@gmail.com.