"KNIGHT OF THE BURNING PESTLE"

Have you ever wondered what it would be like if members of the audience hijacked a serious stage production and ran away with it?  It could well look like the pandemonium that engulfs the Renaissance Center Theater Company’s production of Francis Beaumont's ground-breaking 17th century comedy, “Knight of the Burning Pestle.”  The show runs October 9-11 and 15-18 at the UMass Renaissance Center, 650 East Pleasant Street, Amherst.

Francis Beaumont's 'Knight of the Burning Pestle,' is a staggeringly funny satire of the English Renaissance stage and popular treatments of chivalric romance. The play revolves around two central plots: the first a parody of early modern city comedies which focuses on an apprentice who is in love with his master’s daughter, while the second expounds upon the misadventures of a
heroic grocer named Rafe.  The play is filled with comic fights, romance, silly monologues, and ridiculous characters, all written in a style which seems more like a Monty Python film than a Shakespearean comedy.

Curtain time is 7:30 pm Thursday-Saturday and Sundays at 2 pm. Tickets are $15 general admission, $10 students and seniors; advance reservations may be made by calling 413-577-3600, and are advised as seating is limited and sell-outs usual.

  For directions to the Renaissance Center, call 413-577-3600, or visit our web site at www.umass.edu/renaissance.

The Renaissance Center Theater Company is the performance arm of the Massachusetts Center for Interdisciplinary Renaissance Studies, an institute of UMass Amherst, whose mission is to contribute to the field of Renaissance studies with research, teaching, and outreach to the campus, the community, and beyond.