egilsaga
‘The black browed bard of the battle storm.’
Egilsaga or Egil’s Saga - is the story of Egil Skallagrimsson, Iceland’s greatest warrior poet! Bold, bloody and resolute, a real C10th hero, Egil dominates his Saga - one of the first character centred stories of ancient literature, and in Egil’s complexity, like a modern novel.
He is 8 feet tall, with great broad shoulders and an immense skull - at different times, a farmer, wanderer, pirate, mercenary, miser, drunkard, killer, lawyer, healer, rune-master and sorcerer, by modern standards a psychopath, and certainly an anti-hero.
Yet though violent, vengeful and malevolent, his acts are riddled with a certain rough justice, and he himself is capable of intense loyalty, tenderness and deep friendship. His Saga is shot through with his beautiful poetry, and episodes of high comedy as well as drama.
Tales from Egilsaga charts Egil’s childhood, with his first killing aged 6, and his father nearly murdering him, to his feud with King Erik Bloodaxe of Norway, his fight alongside the Saxon King Aethelstan against King Erik at the Battle of Brunanburg, in the north of England, the death of his brother Thorolf and the story of his magnificent poem The Head Ransom.
The action then returns to Iceland and the ongoing feud, including various episodes from his many adventures such as his healing of a girl using his skills as a rune master and his fight with the brutal Berserker, Ljot. It finishes with his old age and the trick which he plays on his friends and relations in order to stop them getting his wealth! Before finally concluding with the legend of what happened to his immense skull, when Christianity eventually came to Iceland...
Click play to hear a sample from Egil’s most famous poem, ‘The Head Ransom’, which features in the story.
Running time;
Widsith & Deor can perform either a full length show, of an hour and a half of key episodes in the Saga in chronological order, or shorter sets of tales, for example a rip roaring 45 minutes or 20 for slots in a multi act programme.
