We head out for Pennsic today. I’m excited to be doing the whole thing this year and camping on-site once more, even as I’m nervous about factors beyond our control that we never used to worry about (Covid, air quality).
And I’m excited to be doing my concert again, having opted not to stay for war week last year. Barring things we can’t prevent, I’ll be performing on the big stage for the first time in four years. So I wanted to do something special. Ambitious. Maybe a little crazy? (For someone who isn’t exactly made out of spare time.)
I decided to perform Hold the Door Open with a full voice cast for the four main characters. A representative voice cast, including performers who could demonstrate the diversity of sometimes marginalized experiences the song is about.
I (he/him pronouns) would sing the part of Gawain, the cisgender white male and narrator, who strives to gradually understand what his brother Gareth is trying to teach him about Camelot’s failure to properly champion outside perspectives.
I had asked Colette la trouvere of An Tir (they/she pronouns) if they were interested in singing the part of Brangwin for the album last fall, and invited them to perform it with me in the concert. They are open to it. While Colette identifies as non-binary, we agreed that they had lived experience and were comfortable playing Brangwin, who is presented in the song as a cisgender woman, and encounters challenges inherent in a patriarchal society. (Colette does have concerns about whether Pennsic conditions will leave them in singing trim, and kindly introduced me to their partner and fellow performer Robbin Bowring, they/them pronouns, who has a fantastic voice, to come on board as their understudy. Hey, complications happen. [ETA: Robbin will in fact be stepping in for Colette. I’m excited at the opportunity to help introduce them to Pennsic audiences.])
Next came the critical role of Gareth, who presents as male in the song, and is treated as such by Gawain and all of the knights. But it is revealed in the latter half of the song (spoilers!) that Gareth grew up as Gwyneth, Gawain’s sister, and doesn’t particularly identify as “lady nor lord”. Given limited choices, the youth opts for knighthood as Sir Gareth, and Gawain and his brothers agree to support that choice and keep it as a confidence.
Ultimately I reached out to Éadaoin Ruadh, former Sylvan Bard of Æthelmearc and co-general with me in the First Bardic War. Éadaoin uses she/her pronouns to avoid complicated conversations, but considers herself agender. She has the vocal range for Gareth, which is a particular challenge casting someone assigned female at birth for this part. As I’d hoped, she sings the part beautifully and conveys the right energy and nuance for Gareth.
And then, finally, there was Palamedes the Saracen, a man of color (or better expressed, a person of the global majority). It’s been clear from the start that casting Palamedes, both for the album and for Pennsic, would be a challenge. The reason it was vital to include Palamedes in the song is because people of the global majority are such a small minority in the SCA, and we struggle to make our spaces safe and welcoming for them (despite many wonderful people’s good faith best efforts).
My personal vision for Palamedes is that he be sung by a Black singer with a powerful baritone. I actually did manage to find such a singer after considerable looking…and then life hit, and he had to let us know that Pennsic wasn’t going to be in the cards this year. I was going to be left with some hard decisions.
I could just opt to do the song solo, as I always have, and use my storytelling skills and the audience’s imagination. What I couldn’t do, I felt, was cut the part of Palamedes while keeping the other performers, or cast it with someone who could not honestly represent that they had lived experience as a member of the global majority.
And it occurred to me to ask my dear friend Bird the Bard. I know Bird well enough to know that (a) while assigned female at birth, they are non-binary, and have been on hormone treatments long enough that they have the same vocal range as I do now, (b) they have Latin heritage (as does their persona), and (c) they are always ready and willing to help out a fellow bard in the clutch.
On re-listening to the song, they felt called to help make this happen. (They are also excited to introduce audiences to their new voice for the first time at Pennsic.) We had some deep and thoughtful conversations with Bird, and through text their fiancée Ariana, a historian with a deep background in the Middle Ages and the forms of prejudice and oppression that were operant at the time, and the ways they are paralleled today that this song strives to highlight.
So this will be fascinating. The representation I have hoped for is there, though it took some creativity and elbow grease. We had our first sing through over Zoom a week ago, and it is a joy to hear these powerful, passionate voices bringing this story to life. I’ll be incredibly fortunate to have these artists with me onstage (along with the talented Silence de Cherbourg, she/her, on guitar!).
I hope to see you at War.
Drake Oranwood 