You've got to get this ...

This illustrated recipe book will be a production that is guaranteed to make you smile -

If you read my blog from 10th May this year then you'll already know that our historian and costumier Julia Gant is in the throes of preparing a very special recipe book to accompany the Heartsfelled film production.  The recipes are being chosen by Heartsfelled himself as being his favourites.

To fill you in a bit further - Heartsfelled is a Storyteller who is timeless and ageless which means he has been around since time began and collects his stories from across all times and places.  So the recipes he is choosing are genuine, historical dishes with wonderful stories behind their development and the illustrated book will explain the ingredients, how they are made and so-on.

To give you an idea of just how seriously good the authoress Julia is, only four years ago she catered "The Grand Ball at Villa de Molina"  that was in the ground floor of Napoleon's villa on Elba; she's lectured for academic circles and field cooks and the public at large and she's managed kitchens in some very fine historical homes  and shared pies with some pretty highly titled gents!

So, what's got me all excited this week?  Well,  I spent an hour with Heartsfelled himself and he, along with his amanuensis and muse Mnemosyne, was busy writing down anecdotes and tales of how he came to be there when each of the historical dishes was served.  I could sit and listen to these two historians, historical food experts and most literary people tell their stories and experiences for hours.  So, not only are Heartsfelled's musings and recollections historically fascinating, introducing us to a range of wonderful people from the point of view of their fine dining habits - but Heartsfelled has a glorious sense of humour and his writings are witty and funny too.  I had such a happy time listening to previews of the anecdotes that go with the recipes, smiling and laughing even gasping at Heartsfelled's life experiences.   I will add that there is some pretty smart research and a whole lot of real-life fun and games by lovely Nigel Gant behind Heartsfelled's musings . . . but don't tell Heartsfelled that I let on!

If you are interested in being told when this book is available (latest release date is August 2020 but it could well be available before that) them leave me a message here and I will be in touch.

Nigel Gant as Heartsfelled 

Things are hotting up here at the Museum of Stories

The crew, Zak Wylde Productions,  are getting the equipment ready;
the staff (that's me and Richard aka Brother Scuttle) are setting out the catering and comfort facilities; the artiste Heartsfelled (Nigel Gant) and his amanuensis (Julia) are preparing to fill the Museum of Stories with myth and magic  ...
the next round of filming starts tomorrow and it's going to be fun.

Zak and a random Dalek check out new camera equipment.

Storyboards - the director and cinematographer create these and then
either totally ignore them or use them as working guides to the shoot.

Brother Scuttle's Reflections... Pulling Teeth!

Hello again my friends,

Richard has kindly allowed me some time once again to put my ghostly memory to work and take a trip back into the past...

I must say I'm getting used to your way of life here in the future... Even though my beloved Priory is no more! Still I can wander the Streets of Spalding as a ghost and observe what I can of humanity, which I find very entertaining...

Horseless carts, boxes you speak into, boxes that copy your every movement and utterance, boxes that generate visions from other realms... This 'Web' people speak of? That is the most terrifying thing of all, and once again I observe Richard and his wife spending hours pouring over this 'Web' from yet another box... I don't believe in Magic... never have, there is a reason for all this as Richard has tried to explain...  I think my time is not ready for all this jiggery pokery!

Today Richard had to go to the 'Dentist' or tooth Doctor as I discovered. He seemed to feel no pain or discomfort through the ordeal...  Good for him!

I remember Brother Simeon at the Priory... He pulled out bad teeth and enjoyed every moment of the suffering of others. Mercifully I only ever had to have him pull one of my teeth, but it is said my cries could be heard all over Spalding and beyond into the very fens!  I was told that his predecessor, Brother Maurice actually kept the teeth he removed! Even in God's good name could he be that foul? But it appears that you have drugs and medicines to reduce pain in your time, which can only be good. Richard says he's a martyr to his teeth... I never quite understand what that man is on about half the time!

Anyway it's raining today and quite miserable... I think I'll nip back to the netherworld or go and see Heartsfelled to swap a yarn or two... Pity I can't drink ale anymore, you should have seen me and him back in the day! Ha ha ha...

Oh, due to 'human error' in the last blog I just wish to confirm that I was born in 1068 the son of a Norman and a high ranking Saxon and went into the Priory at 15 to study and prepare for my vows.

Wishing everyone a very happy Weekend,


Brother Scuttle.

The story of a story . . .

Heartsfelled, a man of many guises

Those of you who've visited this blog before will be pretty familiar with our character, Heartsfelled.  
You'll know about him being a storyteller as old as time. And, you maybe know that in the upcoming film, Heartsfelled is telling a story called The Identity Stealer.

However, some folk are not so sure about the story of the Identity Stealer, so settle back and I'll explain:

The story actually began as a lengthy poem that I created when I was a performance poet.  

Patrisha, the Poet

The poem is called The Fyrdwhaet Saga and because I was feeling adventurous, it a few lines in Anglo-Saxon English.  
Based on someone I knew, it's a set of verses about a charismatic warrior who absorbs people's time and attention so much that I call him  Fyrdhwaet, The Identity Stealer.  
Being an academic myself,  but not being at all an expert or knowledgeable about Anglo-Saxon English, I took the poem to some learned experts to verify that I had written them well enough.  To be honest, I expected them to laugh and pat me on the head and that would be the end of that little project ...  so you can imagine how happy I was to be told to think of it as the beginning of a full-length saga and to keep on writing it.  And so it developed!

Patrisha, the scholar

In that first set of verses,  “Fyrdhwæt, The Identity Stealer” (his name meaning brave or warlike), we are told that his mother who bore him and all of his friends, his family, even his wife, find that in his presence their sense of self and identity become thwarted and sucked away.  So people turn away from him.

I spend happy hours researching Anglo-Saxon words and syntax to the best of my capability.

It's tricky, not least because our knowledge of this long-ago language is restricted to the few sagas and documents we have in the original (such as the wonderful Beowulf), but there's Bosworth and Toller's Dictionary and by the time I was writing this there was becoming some pretty good help on the internet too.

Coming back to the story itself, what we find in the tale of Fyrdhwaet is that he is brave and good at heart. So, when I extended his story to build the Saga it seemed right and proper that he become the slayer of his people's demons.

The Green Man is gone!

I thought hard about olde Englyshe customs and mythology and about how peoples seemed to 'worship' many gods and goddesses, each of which had a role to play in daily life such as bringing forth good crops, clean water or good weather or rain as and when needed. Similarly, the people's demons were creatures of nature, or rather of disturbed nature. So I designed my demons to be the bringers of bad times such as crop failure, drought, or scary darkness (eclipse).

Naturally, the people begin to starve and would have died out (apathy seems prevalent) if it weren't for one small, lone voice who manages to call upon Fyrdhwæt.  The sun won't shine so Fyrdhwæt slays the monster in the dark, alone and unrecognized.

In the second set of verses:  “Bealltain” and “The Silken Tretraw”  we are introduced to the first of three demons, the Tretraw. It is a beast which arrives at the beginning of spring, during the spring festival procession, and it commences to eat up all the trees and green growth, positing stones and rock in the place of sacred woods and vital agriculture.

In the third set of verses:  “Alban Heruin” and “The Thirsty Higghorþ” (a demon drank up the oxygen)

This Thirsty Higghorþ [pronounced High-hoarth . . . with a silent 'p' before the 'th' if you can manage it]  makes its living by drinking all the oxygen and goodness from the air. Once again a small, lone voice manages to call our hero Fyrdhwæt.  The sun won't shine on the battle so our hero struggles until he has slain the monster and saved the people.

In the final set of verses: “Samhain” and “The Miserable Maghmaugh” [pron:maw-maw] we witness our hero as he slays his third and final demon.  This one is a dwimor or ghost which dries out all the water supplies and sacred wells by turning the waters to rosin.

Having written all this, and performed it a couple of times, I set the poem aside to gather dust on a shelf somewhere and almost forgot all about it while tide and times shaped and reshaped my days.
. . . Then, during the Christmas break of 2017 while I was idle and supposed to be resting,

Patricia watches Zak of
Zak Wylde Productions

Julia Gant, Costumier and actress
Nigel Gant - Heartsfelled

I suddenly had the idea of taking the Saga to some new friends who just happened to be first class historians, re-enactors, experimental archaeologists and filmmakers . . !  I even discovered that Nigel Gant, who will play Heartsfelled, has actually studied Anglo-Saxon English. There's not so much of it in the film as we wanted the tale to be accessible to everybody, and lovely Nigel has made it perfect! 

Director and special action actor Pete
Holland of Zak Wylde Productions

As a production team, we've talked and we've worked and we've had a great time bringing this project together. 

At time of writing, we've got the opening sequence under our belts and are looking forward to a long summer of filming the three battle sequences as well as Heartsfelled himself in his Museum of Stories.






For the purposes of telling the story well, we have designed and represented the demons in animal

Amy - the beautiful side of the cunning
Miserable Maghmaugh!

form.  I felt this would be close to Anglo-Saxon thinking.    
The Silken Tretraw is a wolf, the  Higghorþ is a wild boar and the Miserable Maghmaugh is a deer.

. . . Oh, and Tretraw,  Higghorþ and Maghmaugh are names I made up! I hope that answers for you. Thanks again for your interest.

If you would like to pre-order your copy of the film, film and book or if you would like to have a special Heartsfelled T-shirt or sweatshirt or even a mug, or perhaps you'd like to come visit us on-set in Lincolnshire . . . then why not show your support and visit  https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/heartsfelled

Thanks
PB