Muncaster's Kingdom of Fools stage

Muncaster's Kingdom of Fools stage, originally uploaded by Phoole.

The Pennington family lives in Muncaster Castle, but they also generously surrender parts of it for fool frolicks for the Festival of Fools. This is a view of the Kingdom of Fools stage area, with nice wooden benches. Inside, facing this, is the Pennington family's dining room, which they allowed use of as a sort of "green room" during the competition.

I should have accepted the offer of sound-system use -- I'm accustomed to bellowing, you know, Kristin Linklater's FREEING SHAKESPEARE'S VOICE and everything. But there' s absolutely nothing to bounce your sound off of there. There's just rolling meadows and grass and people, who are soft and absorb your sound. So that was rough and humbling. But to be a Phoole in a setting like this made everything quite worth it.