Hello everyone!
Yesterday, I attended a play hosted at my school called Once Upon A Mattress (Youth Edition, because we’re not adults)!
My friends had been performing in the play and convinced me to go. I wasn’t sure how it would go, as I usually don’t attend these sort of things.
I ended up going (obviously) and, well…
It was AMAZING!
And I’m not only saying that because I my friends were a part of it. It was genuinely amazing.
The story is told mainly by the Ministrel and the Jester of the Court.
A young man by the name of Prince Dauntless wants to get married to a young woman (His line, “Alas! Alas! What I need is a lass!” or something of the like was flat-out clever). However, his mother, Queen Aggravain, doesn’t want her little boy to leave her, therefore putting each and every princess through a test they have no chance of passing.
If this wasn’t bad enough, Queen Aggravain passed a law decreeing that nobody in the kingdom can get married until the prince finds a suitable wife.
None of the court members are happy about this news, especially not Lady Larken and Sir Henry– a young couple hopelessly in love and looking to get married.
King Aggravain has no say in what happens to his son–or in anything for that matter. Due to a curse decreeing that, “The king will not talk until the mouse eats the hawk.”
The court members have tried many things to break the curse (including bringing a very large mouse and a very small hawk together. Unfortunately, the mouse got scared, ran off, and the hawk bit King Aggravain). But nothing seems to work, and it looks as if nobody will ever marry again…
Until Sir Henry, in a desperate attempt to be with his love, goes on a search for a suitable princess to fulfill the wishes of Queen Aggravain (nobody knows that she doesn’t want her son to marry). After three weeks, he returns with a princess named Winnifred. Her introduction is pure comedy: (basic summary)
Princess Winnifred: Yeah, sorry about that. I swam the moat.
Queen Aggravain: YOU SWAM THE MOAT?!?!
Sir Gareth (I think): We watched from the tower, she wouldn’t wait for the drawbridge…
Sir Percival (I think): She’s a very strong swimmer.
Queen Aggravain: yOu SwAm tHe mOaT?!??!?!?!?
Princess Winnifred is not your average princess–but Prince Dauntless falls in love almost instantly. But Queen Aggravain doesn’t want her precious boy to leave her, so she comes up with a plan…
Involving one pea and twenty mattresses.
What is this mysterious plan? Will Prince Dauntless ever get his princess? Will Lady Larken and Sir Harry ever be able to unite? And what is up with the whole mouse-hawk thing??
Find out in Once Upon A Mattress! (Tough luck seeing it if you don’t go to BA lol)
My favorite moments from the play:
- “Winnifred sounds too formal, so call me by my nickname.” “Winnie?” “Fred!”
- “YOU SWAM THE MOAT?!?!?!”
- A song sung by the Jester and Ministrel…and also “sung” by King Aggravain
- The “Spanish Panic-” a dance which is basically the Macarena and Chicken Dance fancified.
- Winnifred in the phase of Queen Aggravain’s plan–#relatable.
That’s pretty much it!
Shoutout to Mohul, Abby B., Stella, Olivia, Christian, Ethan, and Ellie–my buddies in the play 😀 Y’all did great!
Okay byeee 😀
-Abby