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The Knight's Errand

by Marilyn Anne Campbell

Stage play: Theatre for Young Audiences, one act, 4 performers

King Arthur, Lancelot, and Percival recount the story of Ferldamed, a lesser-known knight of The Round Table who must overcome his fear of the dark and his general lack of knightly skills both to run a simple errand and to save his friends from a fearsome foe.

A rhyming play.

Read an excerpt from The Knight's Errand

Status: 

A Little History


The Knight's Errand began as a narrative poem that I wrote when I was in high school. Thinking myself an utterly brilliant seventeen-year-old, I immediately sent the poem out to several big-name picture book publishers, expecting instant success. Although the slew of  no-thank-yous I received were all very polite and encouraging, I nonetheless shelved The Knight's Errand for several years.

I rediscovered and rewrote the poem while in university and, thinking myself an utterly brilliant twenty-one-year-old, read it at a few semi-private open mic type events, expecting instant accolades. Although the applause I received was polite and the comments generally encouraging (with a lot of, "you know, for kids" caveats), I had no idea what to do with this thing I had written. After all, every picture book publisher in town had already said no. So back in the e-drawer it went.

Many, many years later, after I started playwriting, I rediscovered the poem yet again and realized it had been in slightly the wrong format all along. So now I no longer consider myself an utterly brilliant anything, and the poem has grown up to become a rhyming play, which I suspect is what it wanted all along.

Production History

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First Performance:

 

Nova Scotia's Child's Play Theatre first performed the show busker-style on the Halifax Waterfront. July 4, 5, 11, 12, 2015.

Directed by Carolyn Thomas
Produced by Zara Tufts

Featuring:
Carey Bray as Ferldameld
Dana Thompson as King Arthur
Jessica Oliver as Percival
Luciana Silvestre Fernandes as Lancelot

Other Productions:

A revised version was presented at Storybook Land Theatre in Aberdeen, South Dakota, USA, July 26, 27 & 29, 2016 (many thanks to Artistic Director Brian T. Schultz for the feedback and suggestions). Featuring the Storybook Land Theatre 2016 company, Paige Walth, Julia Friedrichsen, Claire Vetter, Briggs Tople, Max Langbehn, Isaac Seaton, and Eli Corbett.

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