Midwinter Revels Preview Performance

Join us for two preview events from the Portland Revel’s Midwinter Revels performance. Each year the group selects a culture to feature and celebrate in their performance and this year they are reveling in Nordic culture! The show will feature the story of a girl, her grandfather and Odin himself!

October Open Rehearsal

Join us in listening to the rehearsals of the group. This is not a formal performance but a chance to see a little behind the scenes.

November Preview Performance

This preview performance will include some of the music, discussion about the show, and a preview of the costumes and props. You’ll see a short scene from the show.

About Portland Revels and the Midwinter Revels

Portland Revels celebrates the seasons through song, dance, story and ritual of the past and present, creating community across generations and cultures.

The Midwinter Revels is steeped in traditions of song, dance, poetry and performance. Here are a few traditions you’ll see almost every year.

A Midwinter Revels performance usually includes a mummer’s play. This comic and usually anachronistic enactment of death and rebirth finds its roots in celebrations held throughout Europe to mark important stages in the agricultural year. In the Midwinter Revels, the mummer’s play is another demonstration of the Midwinter Revels central theme: the descent into darkness and the return of the light. In a mummer’s play a hero usually fights a villain (traditionally a dragon), is killed, and then resurrected by magic. A Revels mummers play will often include a sword dance.