Sigurd the Dragonslayer

Struts and Frets astutely pull together their own special take on Sigurd’s portion of the saga, where pop-culture references abound and a laugh is always around the corner. – Winnipeg Free Press

Sigurd the Dragonslayer was an adaptation of part of the Norse Völsungasaga, the saga of three generations of heroes in the clan Völsung. This is the story that inspired Wagner’s Ring Cycle operas, large parts of the Lord of the Rings mythos, and the Looney Tunes sketch What’s Opera, Doc?.

In the section, our hero Sigurd is trained by his foster father Regin to slay Regin’s brother Fafnir, who has gone mad with greed and turned into a terrible dragon. After Sigurd kills Fafnir, Regin betrays him, and Sigurd kills him too. Now completely alone, he sets off to seek his place in the world. He rescues Brynhild the Valkyrie, and finds first hospitality, then betrayal in the royal hall of the Niflung clan.

For this production, we were joined by our very clever and talented friends Michael Ostry and Hailley Rhoda. Stylistically, we continued to mix and match various design and writing elements: full-colour, translucent plastic shadow puppets; story theatre; our house blend of corny jokes and pathos. Script-wise, we really wanted to focus on the relationship between Sigurd and Brynhild, as well as Sigurd’s personal growth over the course of the story, building on our success with writing the character of Gilgamesh the year before.

For our efforts, we were rewarded with the Best of Fest honour for the third time in four years, and Ariel and Jessy jointly won the Harry S. Rintoul Memorial Award. This is an award given out every year by the Winnipeg Fringe Festival for the best new original script by a Manitoba author. Huzzah!

Pictures below the fold.

Congratulations Are In Order!

We are proud to say that Sigurd the Dragonslayer was another success for the Struts and Frets Players. We clinched the Best of Fest honour for the third time in four years, and have been flattered by some great positive feedback by audience members. Some choice accolades include:

“Struts and Frets astutely pull together their own special take on Sigurd’s portion of the saga, where pop-culture references abound and a laugh is always around the corner. – Barb Stewart in her review for the Winnipeg Free Press

“The magic in this exciting production lies in how this story is told. The story comes to life through a combination of puppetry, props, visual projection, live actors and humour. I liked the attitude these young actors add to this old tale…I highly recommend that you go and see this show.” – Justin Olynyk in a review on his blog, Winnipeg Theatre

But we are especially thrilled to announce that our very own Ariel Levine and Jessy Ardern, who wrote the script together, won the Harry Rintoul Memorial Award! This is an award given out every year by the Fringe Festival for the best original script by a Manitoba writer, and we are very proud of the recognition. And to top it off, they are the youngest recipients of the award yet.

Thank you to everyone who came out to support this madcap scheme our latest production. We will be sure to keep you apprised of our next big adventure.