| Effects & Equipment We can provide anything from small cuts and bruises to full lighting gear and sound. See what we have to offer! |
Rolling Scenario Vikings! (Of Middle England) provide a unique and dramatic presentation of history through the use of a 'rolling scenario.' |
Special Effects
Tÿrslið is renowned for its use of special effects, and has gained some notoriety since being featured in Channel 5’s "What’s The Story", which covered the group’s activities in 1997 censoring some of the more graphic scenes under the legend ‘Too Violent to Show!’ Critics accuse the group of ‘blurring the edges’ between reality and fantasy – but of course this is 21st century reality – whereas Tÿrslið attempts to present History with as much Dark Age realism as possible. War was, and is a vile, horrific and bloody spectacle. A Dark Age battlefield would have been smelly, phenomenally noisy and reminiscent of a charnel house. Spectators are not spared the grisly details – whether it be the gore of the battlefield or the treatment of wounds in the rudimentary ‘surgery’ within the living history camp. There is no room for sanitised, Disneyesque or politically correct history at a Tÿrslið performance.
The SpFX department offers more than the basic blood-bags used in battle.
The treatment of slashes and gashes to arms and legs, cauterisation and
dentistry can all be recreated on the lach’s (surgeon’s) ‘operating
table’. Lepers and sore-infested beggars may also be seen on occasion.
Among the rarer spectacles are hanging, disembowelling and tongue removal.
The ever-growing selection of props currently includes a full-size rotting
corpse, (affectionately known as 'Kenny') often seen hanging from battlements or gibbet. The surgery has been
augmented with an amputated hand and foot, removed because of the horrendous
injuries sustained. A film-quality disembodied head may regularly be seen
displayed atop of a spike or featured in a scenario. The reliquary box in
the Saxon chapel contains a realistic mummified hand and head, whilst the
coin strike stall has displayed above it the decomposed hand of a former
incumbent, who had struck debased coinage and suffered this punishment according
to the 11th century laws of Cnut.
However, Tÿrslið is not insensitive to the needs of the customer, and displays are always tailored to clients’ wishes. If so instructed, SpFX can be omitted. It must also be remembered that battle displays account for only a small percentage of any show, and SpFX even less.
