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The invitation, this time, at the British Museum was to assist in the final days of the Hadrian Exhibition in an evening’s entertainment that included Roman soldiers, cooking, contemporary dancing, arts and crafts. As the main arena event we gave three displays throughout the evening including two gladiatorial munera and a talk on stage combat; demonstrating the tricks of the trade with the aid of three very willing pairs from the audience.
Fighting in the Great Hall is always an experience to be enjoyed, low lighting, great acoustics and a Romanesque environment always conspire together to create a fantastic environment in which to fight and talk about Roman culture.
The event went very well, although I suspect that the museum staff worked a lot harder than the calming presence they displayed to us all.
Fighting at the feet of Antinous, Hadrian’s lover and the large podium he was stood on gave a wonderful stage to fight against, the crowd forming a D shape around us could feel very involved with the action as we fought. Introductions from our announcer set the scene as two pairs of gladiators fought for favour and hopeful victory.
The Great Hall’s floor always presents interesting problems; as it is so expensive, can be damaged reasonably easily but has the wonderful effect of turning into an ice skating ring as the cuts and thrusts of the fight are played out and can break weapons should the fall on it. An old fighting trick of orange juice on the feet and hands soon made us stick to the floor and fights were altered to make sure we neither damaged the weapons or the floor during the action.
Feedback from the British Museum was favourable, stating: A big thank you to your and your team for coming on Thursday and helping to make the evening such a big success. We are delighted with how everything went. Your guys were extremely professional which helped enormously in the smooth running of the event.
From our perspective the show was great fun, representing one of the more atmospheric museums we have the privilege to display in.
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