QUEEN HESTER
The Bible tells how at a seven-day feast King Ahasuerus of Persia ordered Queen Vashti to dance seductively before his guests. The proto-feminist Vashti refused, was deposed, and, from among the kingdom’s virgins, the learned Jewish lady Esther was chosen to replace her. Later her cousin Mordecai aroused the anger of Haman, the king’s counselor, because he refused to bow to him. In the vengeful logic of the time, Haman resolved to kill all the Jews to get at Mordecai. Happily, Esther talked Ahasuerus out of it, neatly exposing Haman in the process. When Haman was killed, the Jews triumphed over one more enemy (temporarily, of course, as always). So, geared to the Persian new year, the feast of Purim commemorates this Jewish heroine. This year it falls on March 3.
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As the script requires, music heightens the tale. The Medieval Players employ a then-popular ditty, “What remedy . . .” sung to the tune of “Greensleeves” by the disgusted trio of Pride, Adulation, and Ambition (Paul Engelhardt, Amy Frazier, and Edward Lasky); a haunting plain chant of Psalm 22, sung offstage as Hester prays for help in persuading her husband to halt the massacre; and, as the customary concluding valedictory to Henry VIII, the five-part motet “Nil maius . . .” (composed to be a gift to that king from an Italian dignitary). These richly rendered offerings are accompanied by Emilysue Pinnell on the vielle, an early and very spiritual-sounding violin. Finally, to keep the spell alive, during the intermission the Players serve homemade ale (or fruit punch) along with the Purim sweetmeats hamantashen, named after Haman’s ears. (Of course, Haman lost a lot more than his hearing . . .)
