LYNDHURST, NJ – In 11th-century Spain, a nobleman trying to put his hand on the queen’s dress after a royal feast could be subjected to medieval torture methods.
But at the Medieval Times just off 3rd Street, dealing with that kind of behavior has been accepted as part of the job for too long, says Monica Garza, one of a number of actresses playing queens at the tourist attraction. dinner and a tournament, said. .
Garza said management made her feel like a “diva” for asking for additional security protocols after she pointed out increasingly bold behavior by guests. It was only after an incident in which a noisy ticket holder approached her throne and tried to scream into her microphone, Garza said, that management installed a chain to block access to her.
The desire for increased security and other safety measures at the castle – where falls can be part of the job description – was one reason that queens, knights, squire and stable at Lyndhurst Castle voted on Friday for unity.
Attempts to merge, first Reported by The Huffington Post, prevailed on Friday, when staffers voted, from 26 to 11, to join the Association of Diversity Artists of America. Medievalists will join a range of performers represented by the association, including Radio City Rockettes, several circus performers and character actors performing at Disneyland – such as Mulan and Aladdin – in California.
Employees are also looking for higher wages (Garza gets $20 per hour and claims start at around $14 per hour) and for their superiors to treat them like skilled workers – those Trained stuntmen who perform complex fights with spears, swords, and axes, and experienced actors who don’t just read lines.
Medieval Times management did not respond to a request for comment. On Friday night, the chief executive officer, Perico Montaner, sent a notice to employees outside of the New Jersey location saying that the company planned to negotiate in good faith but that they would not agree to any. what is not good for you.
“Collective bargaining is uncertain,” the note said. “It can lead to more, the same or less. There are no guarantees.”
“An important point of the union is just basic respect,” said Garza, 25, a trained actor and self-described historically. “People will always exploit you when it’s something you love, because they know you’re not going to do it.”
Many performers end up falling in love with the job, even if they didn’t initially dream of working at the concrete castle, with its vast hallways and seemingly endless supply of tomato biscuits. The two-hour shows feature an elite crew that includes a former Marine, a former reserve singer Elton John, a musical theater student turned actor. stuntman, a former zookeeper and an actor known for voicing the video game “Grand Theft Auto.”
Sean Quigley, 33, a backup singer and a well-trained actor from London, laughs: “We’re a bunch of assholes,” says Sean Quigley, 33, a backup singer who is also an actor. Trained staff from London, so he doesn’t need to fake an English accent. (Technically, the show is set in Spain, but New Jersey audiences aren’t picky.)
Taking orders from their corporate headquarters in Texas, the Lyndhurst shows are designed to follow the same structure every night. Visitors here don paper crowns and eat the same four-course meal as in Atlanta and Baltimore. The queens are paid to speak the same words as in the company’s nine other castles, which reportedly 1.5 million guests visited last year.
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“Good nobles, welcome to the great hall of my ancestors,” said Garza as he rode atop a white Andalusian into an arena of chirping children wielding shining swords.
The new story goes like this: After inheriting the kingdom, the queen organizes a tournament in which six knights on horseback compete for a lauded title, but her power is threatened by a sleazy advisor who conspires to marry her. The dialogue is often drowned out by the aforementioned chatter and the bustle of the “serfs and hunters” (the Middle Ages spoke of servants), who were known to end the evening with the phrase. , “Cash or card, ma’am?”
For actors, who may be doing the same script several times a week, year after year, the lines start to feel like tattooing on their brains – so they find ways to entertain.
“I’ll do a show where I pretend to be secretly in love with the queen; I’m going to do a show where I’m secretly in love with one of the knights,” said Quigley, who plays Lord Marshal, the show’s curator. “To keep it fresh, you can tell a different story in your head.”
Quigley, who auditioned at the Medieval Times after struggling to make a smooth transition between London and New York’s West End theater scene, also enjoyed herself by assuming a variety of accents. He tried a cockney drawl game, performed the entire show as if he were Sean Connery, and put on a voice like Jon Snow’s in “Games of Thrones” – only when he managed to pull off the whole show performing with a lisp then the new sound department sent the runner to tell him to cut it out.
For Christopher Lucas, the video game voice actor who has also appeared in daytime soap operas, his improvisation comes in a scene that, as his slimy mentor queen, he goes on to speak of his adoration of oranges from Valencia in a ode that verges on the unhinged. For reasons that even Lucas couldn’t understand, the audience loved it, sometimes starting to sing – “Oranges! Oranges! Oranges!” – and bring him fresh fruit on their next visit.
“As a performer, these are the things you live for,” says Lucas.
Finally, the business of the Middle Ages, which began in Spain and reached the United States in 1983, revolved around knights, who paraded around the arena on horseback before clashing and dueling. with the queen.
One of New Jersey’s most veteran knights, Antonio Sanchez, 31, was disillusioned with the idea of a long career in the US Marines when he saw on Facebook that the Medieval Times was recruiting. On a whim in 2014, he drove to Lyndhurst Castle, walked into the stables, and shortly after, he cleared the stalls and saddled the horses before showtime.
“From behind the stables, you could hear the crowd rumbling,” Sanchez said, recalling the moment he started dreaming of becoming a knight.
To get the job, no horse experience is required. As the knights’ apprentices, the men had to undergo hundreds of hours of training, learning both how to ride and how to safely roll into the sand as rival knights “knock down” them.
Joe Devlin, 28, who started working as a police officer after returning home from a tour as a musician, was in dire need of a job.
Protecting themselves with aluminum shields, apprentices who learn combat choreography will gradually become committed to muscle memory.
However, accidents still happen. Purnell Thompson, a rancher hired after losing his job tending farm animals at a local zoo, said the fact that the show relies on a stable of about two dozen horses adds an element of danger. frequent danger. In an arena of boisterous revelers, there are many potential triggers for a horse to sound spooky, including spectators following the rules and banging their metal plates and bowls on the table. .
Once, while Devlin was training, he broke his ankle while learning how to jump off a horse. And Jonathan Beckas, a two-year knight, had to deal with a knee wound and two head injuries, one of which involved taking a wooden lance to the head. (Full-time workers receive health insurance.)
According to Beckas — a 27-year-old trained stuntman who was paid $21.50 an hour, up from $12 when he started as a cop — said, it’s that they feel underpaid. low considering the risks they take on the job. “I am a knight, but I am also a human being,” he said.
This is not the first time a union vote has been held at the castle. There is a similar effort in 2006, where complaints have mostly revolved around a lack of job security and concerns that the requirements are becoming chivalrous too quickly. That vote went against forming a union.
Even before Friday’s vote,’ employees said, they’ve seen the changes. After news of the merger attempt became widely known, get support from Governor Phil Murphy, management has installed a stronger barrier to her throne, Garza said.
Now, the knights have bargaining power, and they plan to use it.
“Becoming a knight is every kid’s dream,” says Sanchez. “But I’m getting older, and the fun doesn’t pay the bills.”
