- Performers - Kingdom of Lochac

Guild Mistress candidate
by Karolina Firman 23 Dec '25

23 Dec '25

Greetings all, According to our charter, a member of our guild may attain the rank of Guild Master/Mistress when the Guild as a whole deems that they have: a) Produced a substantial body of work demonstrating consistent quality, and b) Contributed to performance in the Kingdom by teaching, provoking, guiding, or otherwise facilitating performance opportunities. Mistress Gwen verch David, a journeyman guild member in good standing, has declared her belief that she has met these standards and has requested that the guild consider whether they agree. This nomination has been supported by the Honourable Lord Gillucan ua Tomaltaig, a member in good standing, and the question of mastery is therefore put to the guild. Members of the guild are asked to consider their knowledge of Gwen and her works, which are further described below. If any believe she has NOT met the standards of a Guild Master in our guild, please email performers.guild(a)lochac.sca.org with your reasons, so that they may be considered. If, by 31 January 2026, there are no emails opposing Gwen becoming a guild Mistress, I will conclude that her change of rank is supported by the guild, and it will be formally announced. If, by 31 January 2026, if I HAVE been contacted with reasons not to declare Gwen a guild Mistress at this time, I will make an additional call for positive commentary to judge balance of opinions in the guild. *Body of Work and Contributions* In support of her claim, Mistress Gwen verch David has listed the following body of work: - An extensive history of performance as a singer and storyteller, with performance skills as a solo singer most recently demonstrated with an hour long solo concert at Rowany Festival (on Youtube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ypJaL50pXQ) - Composition of more than twenty songs in folk, filk, and period styles, as well as numerous poems, some stories, and most recently, a puppet play. (See the 'bardic' category of her blog to browse past works: https://thelinkspages.wordpress.com/category/bardic) - In 2024, completion of a twelve-month composition challenge, with documentation provided for most pieces (eleven of twelve can be found on her blog: https://thelinkspages.wordpress.com/category/twelve-months-bardic-challenge/ ) She also reports the following contributions to encouraging performance in Lochac: - Supporting the Beowulf Project for Rowany Festival 2017, and coordinating the Gawain and the Green Knight Project for Rowany Festival 2018. - Coordinating or co-coordinating the Courtly Music Recital at Rowany Festival from 2017-2024. - Eight years of experience in teaching classes on lyric writing, storytelling, general performance skills, voice projection, and reading sheet music. - Supported revival of Performers Guild and redevelopment of charter and ranking system. - Created a new general SCA songbook, the Book of Gwen, and a supplementary adult songbook, After Dark (both downloadable at https://thelinkspages.wordpress.com/gwens-songbooks/) YIS, Provost Lady Jadwiga z Katowic

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Courtly Music Recital at Rowany Festival
by Meredith Waldron 30 Nov '25

30 Nov '25

Hey there, folks! This is a planning post for the Courtly Music Recital at next year’s Rowany Festival. (This message has also been shared in the Lochac Musicians and Performers Facebook group.) The Courtly Music Recital is an indoor event for period music and spoken word performances, which has been held each Festival for almost a decade now (time flies, doesn’t it?). It’s open to anyone who wants to perform, at any skill level, as long as the performance is under five minutes and suitable for a mixed-age audience. If you’re interested in performing at the recital, or attending as an audience member, please read on. At the most recent recital, I asked the people who were present for feedback about how the event had evolved over time, and how they would like it to evolve in future. The three main points that came up were: 1. Now that Sunday is FAT/RAT day, the recital should move to a different time so that it’s easier for people to attend. 2. We should advertise the recital more to encourage the general populace to come and watch. 3. We should try out inviting Royal and/or Baronial guests, so that the Recital has a higher profile and performers get more visibility. All of these are things I’m very willing to try out, but I want to make sure I’m hearing from people who WEREN’T present this year as well. Would it work to move the recital to another time - Monday morning, maybe, since there’s usually heavy war that day? Do we want to encourage a larger audience? And finally, do we want the more formal kind of activity that comes with having thrones in the room? If we did invite Royal/Baronial guests, I feel like a good way to handle it would be to book a two-hour timeslot, with the first hour for the formal part of the recital, and the second hour available for anyone who wasn’t comfortable performing before the Crown. That would also allow us to maybe have advance sign-ups, with early sign-ups getting first dibs on performance slots in the first hour, so that we could tell if we needed to seek out more performers in order to have a full program, while still having extra time available for people who decided to perform after getting to the event. But the question of HOW we manage having a potential Royal/Baronial presence is one that comes after WHETHER we should do that. So please, if you have thoughts on the three points above, as a potential performer or audience member at the recital, let me know! Yours in Service, Mistress Gwen verch David

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Offer to transcribe sheet music for Lochac songwriters
by Meredith Waldron 06 Jul '25

06 Jul '25

Hail, songwriters of Lochac! As a performer who generally only attends bardic circles at Rowany Festival, I have found that each year I hear wonderful pieces of music that I want to learn, but have no easy way to learn them. Alas, I thought to myself, if only the writers had created sheet music, but I know that many of them don’t read and write sheet music as fluently as I do, and so don’t find it useful. But lack of sheet music is a solvable problem! I would like to offer a trade to Lochac’s songwriters: if you will send me a recording of your songs, I will create sheet music for it. (I reserve the right to refuse to transcribe if I’m uncomfortable doing so for any reason.) It will be up to you what happens with that sheet music from there.. Song recordings can be sent to me as files or as links to an online recording (e.g. soundcloud), and they don’t have to be high quality, just clear enough for me to tell what note you’re singing. I’ll transcribe what I think it is, and send you a recording based on my transcription for you to correct. For preference, you can contact me at meredith.waldron1(a)gmail.com, or if that doesn’t work, you can use FB messenger as a back up. Written sheet music is a wonderful way to help your songs reach audiences that you can’t, and to preserve them for the future, so please, take me up on it! Yours in service and song, Mistress Gwen verch David

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The Ides of March Approaches!
by Melissa Marsh 17 Feb '25

17 Feb '25

Greetings friends! The Ides of March is approaching and I would like to organise a read through of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar on zoom. We will need people to read parts and there are many, both large and small and not all involve stabbing but some do. This will take place on the Ides of March, Saturday (Saturn's Day) 15th March in the evening AEDT and will likely be from 2.5 to three hours. If you are interested, please fill out the form linked below. No acting experience is required! https://forms.gle/WjPDfGB2KnYfrSZr8 [https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/swq1atu8d10PRifcSbdVLqkoxjCmZN_DM7IIIDYLz…]<https://forms.gle/WjPDfGB2KnYfrSZr8> Shakespeare Read-Through: Julius Caesar<https://forms.gle/WjPDfGB2KnYfrSZr8> Friends, countrymen and would-be Romans! The Performers Guild wish to do a read-through of Shakespeare’s play The Tragedy of Julius Caesar and we need actors for the roles. Some are large, some are small and some even take part in the stabbing. We propose to perform this on Zoom on the Ides of March itself, the evening of 15th March, 2025. We anticipate a performance time of 2 1/2 to three hours Acting/ drama experience is not required and enthusiasts are welcome! Please indicate below if you are interested and most importantly what sort of part you wish to take. People with medium, small or bit parts will be expected to take at least one more depending on numbers but we will do our best to avoid confusion and talking to yourself. The script we are following is below Julius Caesar forms.gle

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Lochac Bardic Circle
by Melissa Marsh 02 Feb '25

02 Feb '25

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Call to Action: Great Northern War 2025 (requesting response by 16 December 2024)
by nicola＠boyd.org 30 Nov '24

30 Nov '24

Greetings good gentles If Festival is only two weeks away, then Great Northern War can only be a month away! This year's event theme is community. In that vein we are coming to you - the community of artisans, researchers and joyful practitioners of your arts and sciences. This year we are inviting the esteemed guilds to: * present how your guild works, the benefits of joining and provide avenues to connect into the guild * offer a beginner class by a guild member * offer an advanced class by a guild member We will be polling the populous to see what classes they may wish to have and feeding that back to you so you can seek the right teachers within your membership. What I am seeking from you now is simply a response to this email by 16 December 2024 that your guild has interest in participating (pending further information). Please note 1. for the cooks, brewers, fibre and alchemist guilds there is a separate kitchen on site that can be used for your classes. 2. For the performers and dancers we are seeking to have entertainment for the crown and populous after the fire tourney finishes and on the Saturday night. This is beyond bardic circle and a games area which is being planned. We are seeking plays, songs, sagas, dances or any other performances that might entertain the crown and populous. We will have an entertainment coordinator seeking volunteers. 3. For the cook's guild, if there is interest in presenting subtleties or entremets, please let me know. 4. The themes for the Arts and Sciences Competition are 'Flora and Fauna' and 'Dressed for Battle' Please email me at nicola(a)boyd.org <mailto:nicola@boyd.org> and copy in GNW2025(a)gmail.com <mailto:GNW2025@gmail.com> YIS The Honarable Lady/Lord Nicola de Coventre Great Northern War 2025 - Arts and Sciences Officer

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Guilded Symposium
by Tam Hovenga 03 Jul '24

03 Jul '24

Hi All, I was thinking of running a class on staging a play (where am I meant to stand?) - would likely pick a scene from a shakespeare play that has a few characters, cast it there, and work through what you need to think about when creating and directing a play. -audience, action, character dynamics, etc. Would people be interested? YiS Tomas van den Hove

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Plans and schemes - The Guilded Symposium
by Stephen Drane 26 Jun '24

26 Jun '24

Hail, Guildmates! There is a plan afoot for an event to be held on the weekend of 23-25 August 2024 in the Shire of Bordescros. The emphasis is on the Guilds of Lochac - who we are, what we do, and why it's cool to be part of one. The steward is asking for proposals for classes, demonstrations and other activities to show off each guild. So, as the Performers and Entertainers of Lochac, what do we want to do? There's a bardic circle on the timetable for Saturday evening, and I'm told we have a full stage available if we want to do something theatrical. If you're keen to put together something of this nature, let's coordinate on the #performers-guild text channel on the Lochac Discord server. If you have a class you'd like to teach, pop a message to the Steward here: bookings(a)bordescros.lochac.sca.org If you have any other crazy ideas, speak up! Let's strut our stuff and show the Kingdom what our Guild can do! YiS, THL Gillucan ua Tomaltaig Provost of Entertainers

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Guild meeting report - Rowany Festival 2023
by Stephen Drane 20 Apr '23

20 Apr '23

To all members of the Performers and Entertainers Guild of Lochac does Lord Gillucan ua Tomaltaig, Clerk of the Guild give greetings and wishes of good health My friends, my brethren; the fine members of our great guild held a gathering at Rowany Festival to discuss our activities over the past year. At least, the ones who were at the event. And then decided to prioritise the meeting over all the other activities running at the same time. And then didn't get distracted on their way to the tavern. There were just shy of a dozen of us! As per our charter (which makes no mention of meetings at all), this was primarily a chance for those present to awe and inspire each other with their deeds and strengthen the bonds between often far-flung performers and entertainers in the Kingdom. As I am happy to continue in my role as Provost of Entertainers and no-one staged a coup, I shall continue in that capacity for the foreseeable future. Rather than detail each attendee's achievements, I shall summarise. New songs have been composed! New research has been done! New shenanigans have been planned! New plans have been laid! I'll also note that Crown Princess katherine kerr is given to a bit of theatre in court, so we're in for an entertaining reign! The guild in its current form has no official ranking system, but for those who like the sense of achievement and structure that comes with formalised activities we have the Guild Challenge Logbook (attached, and on the performers-guild channel of the Lochac Discord server). This completely optional logbook outlines some activities you can complete to challenge yourself and develop your talents as a performer and entertainer. Upon completing the required number of challenges of a particular level, you can optionally call yourself a "Guild Apprentice" or "Guild Journeyman" of the Performers and Entertainers Guild. Again, this is completely optional! Whether you're riding a wave of Festival enthusiasm or basking in the glow of secondhand storytelling, seize the moment! Perform, entertain, and revel in the camaraderie of your fellows as they do the same. Yours in Service to the Kingdom and the Guild, Lord Gillucan ua Tomaltaig Provost of Entertainers

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Canterbury Faire performers
by Vicki Hyde 29 Jun '22

29 Jun '22

Greetings all, Just a quick heads-up to say that the general theme for next year's Canterbury Faire (21-29 Jan, Southron Gaard) is Uppity Women Go To Faire. https://cf.sca.org.nz/ The Faire's Half-Circle Theatre welcomes period and perioid entertainments of all types, particularly if it relates to the aforementioned theme. And I'm sure there'd be plenty of material for a bardic circle or two along the way if someone cares to organise one.... If you want to propose performing an item or recommend a thematic piece for someone else to do at Half-Cicle, I would be delighted to hear from you. I also have some non-demanding items which could do with performers - scripts provided.... Thespianally yours, katherine kerr Manager Half-Circle Theatre, Canterbury Faire ===================================== katherine kerr of the Hermitage, in the Crescent Isles, Barony of Southron Gaard, Kingdom of Lochac printing, wordsmithery, entertainments http://webcentre.co.nz/kk

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