A shocking, bitterly funny take of knights who return from the Crusades to find their village usurped by a militant female utopia.

Directors Notes - the Castle

As I researched The Castle and its historical setting, a pattern began to appear which supported the emotional underpinnings of the play.

From the proliferation of castle construction in England and Europe for the two centuries proceeding the return of the first surviving crusaders to the innovative and daring, yet little known women composers, philosophers and mystics of that time, such as Hildegard Von Bingen, Christine De Pizan. and Julian of Norwich the dry text book facts of history began to resonate with meaning in the light of the play.

Prefeudal society was already male dominated and military but by linking the land holding lords to military service, feudalism hastened the further disenfranchisement of women. This forms the historical backdrop of the play, but Howard Barker is searching for the unchronicled force of human emotions that lay behind the documented events of history. This force compels humanity to tragic heights as century to century we work out our deepest spiritual problems through seemingly endless cycles of war, domination, and lust.

Barker uses history to create a parabola, or an arc. on which the Medieval age and the dawning of the 21st century are two points equidistant from a fixed line and a fixed emotional-spiritual point not on the line. If our production disturbs, as well as enlightens. then we have been true not only to Mr. Barker’s work, but to our audience as well.

- Director, Bruce DuBose