Traveling troupe brings romp to Howland

The jolly play Death and the Fool presents a musical romp through medieval Europe, when droves of people died from the plague and purveyors of whimsical folly did their best to leaven the mood.

The play, which will be performed by the Happenstance Theater on June 20 at the Howland Cultural Center in Beacon, is promoted as family-friendly, although one of the characters is Death.

"Kids have to deal with deep stuff all the time," says Sabrina Mandell, who co-directs the Maryland-based troupe with her husband, Mark Jaster. "This is no worse than church."

Mandell, who also performs, is the visionary. "I usually lead the charge and wanted to deal with the more shamanistic roots of theater," she says. "I'm interested in alchemy and art, like [Hieronymus] Bosch. I proposed those things to the ensemble, and they went at it full bore."

Death and the Fool, which began touring last year, is a spinoff from the full-scale production Adrift: A Medieval Wayward Folly, which opens a three-week run in Maryland starting next month to celebrate the company's 20th anniversary.

The 50-minute, four-page script balances humor and gravitas but omits the music, dancing, puppets, slapstick and manic antics, says Mandell. Costumes make it easier to identify the five actors, including Mandell and Jaster, as they perform multiple roles.

The play is loosely based on Tarot cards, but knowledge of that mystical realm is not required, Mandell says. "Few people will get the references, but things center on archetypal characters, like the fool, death, oracles, the magician."

The ensemble also introduces obscure medieval instruments and performs period pieces from the Dark Ages, including works by composer Hildegard von Bingen, active in Germany during the 12th century.

Jaster brings along a hurdy-gurdy, "which is mistaken for a pump organ or calliope organ grinder," he says. The real deal looks like a neckless violin; a crank at the bottom causes a mechanical bow to "circle underneath the six strings and create a drone, like bagpipes."

Jaster also has a flute, a handheld tabor pipe, two portable harps, a chalumeau, — precursor to the clarinet — and a Baroque ukulele shaped like a lute. He enjoys wreaking havoc with the bombard, a double-reeded oboe-style instrument. "It looks innocent, but packs a punch for fanfares and intros," he says. "When we rehearse, the rest of the cast asks me to step into the other room or go outside."

Happenstance Theater specializes in historic-oriented work. Another of its productions, Barococo, is set during the Baroque era. "People are nostalgic, and history is big now," says Mandell. "The aesthetics of different periods clash with the modern, but the topics are universal and the settings elevate the work because people seldom see that look in theater, film or TV."

Despite the silliness, the heady message about enjoying life in the face of imminent death resonates as it did 900 years ago. "The content is playful and ridiculous," says Mandell. "But it's also quite moving."

The Howland Cultural Center is located at 477 Main St. in Beacon. Tickets for Death and the Fool, which begins at 2 p.m. on June 20, are $10 at dub.sh/death-fool or $15 at the door.