Column: Beowulf and Modern Paganism

I first met Beowulf on a field trip. My grade school class had a special engagement to see a stage version of the story, performed – I think – by St. Louis’ Metro Theater Company. The spare production featured only a few actors and a set of props that, like those of The Fantasticks, were few enough that they could have been brought on stage in a gunnysack. A central platform at the center of the stage doubled as all the locations of the poem – the darkened hall of Heorot, the haunted mere, the dragon’s cave.

“Mummers Tale” Puts Pagan Twist on “A Christmas Carol”

CHICAGO, Ill. –Theatergoers who live close to the Windy City will have a special treat this year from the troupe Terra Mysterium in the form of “A Midwinter Mummers Tale.”  The play is being described as “an original folk adaptation of Charles Dickens’ beloved classic A Christmas Carol.” Those who are familiar with the classic story of redemption for Ebenezer Scrooge will no doubt find the theme familiar, but this is really an entirely new play. It draws upon spirits and gods in a way that might be more familiar to the modern Pagan than the average consumer of winter holiday entertainment.