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SPECIAL 25TH ANNIVERSARY JORVIK THEATRICAL COMMISSION Egil Skallagrimsson Keeps his Head Nation Centre for Early Music, York, 17th and 18th February Violent feuding, cunning witchcraft and poetic resolution make for a thrilling comedy drama commissioned for this February's JORVIK Viking Festival. Egil Skallagrimsson Keeps his Head is a first theatrical commission for York Archaeological Trust to mark its anniversary JORVIK Viking Festival. The new comedy drama has been written and will be performed by award winning North Country Theatre on 17th and 18th February as part of the week's celebratory Viking Festival. The high seas adventure tells the part-historical and part-mythical saga of Egil Skallagrimsson - 10th century Icelandic hard man - and how he falls into the hands of his old Viking enemy Erik Bloodaxe. When Egil and his crew are driven up the Humber into Erik Bloodaxe's hands, their days of travelling, trading and trashing seem numbered. But Egil has more strings to his bow (and his harp) than Erik might imagine, using poetry and smarming to get him off the hook with the bloodthirsty King. North Country Theatre is a not for profit touring theatre and originator of the Olivier Award Winning West End and Broadway hit version of "The 39 Steps". Four actors will perform the hour-long saga at the National Centre for Early Music in York using clever costume changes and puppetry to depict the main characters and crew. The scenery, using mainly wooden oars, has been built by North Yorkshire stage carpenter, Malcolm Wood. The drama is suitable for ages 10 and over. Says Sarah Maltby, director of attractions at JORVIK Viking Centre, "This is an entertaining drama using the wit and imagination of the North Country Theatre which promises to be a memorable performance. As a first-time commission for the Trust, we're thrilled with North Country Theatre's creativity and interpretation of the saga and expect that it will be a real hit with the audience." Performances take place at 14.00pm and 19.15pm on Wednesday 17th and Thursday 18th February. Evening performance includes musical entertainment and a drinks reception. Tickets cost £6 at 14.00/ £12 at 19.15. Pre-booking essential by calling 01904 557208. NOTES TO EDITORS Celebrating 25 years of Viking rule in York, the 25th annual JORVIK Viking Festival promises to be the best yet! Learn battle drills and have a go at sword combat; delve for buried treasure; hear Viking tales; learn a choreographed stage fight from the experts; learn some of the filthiest, smelliest secrets of the Viking Age; have a go at Viking crafts; see the latest finds from the live Hungate excavations and learn Japanese Taiko drumming. Other highlights from the provisional programme include: East vs West Tuesday 16th February, £3 adult, £2 concessions Witness a display of combat that spans the globe from east to west. Drumming, steel swords and savage warriors combine to create fantastic Festival mayhem! Prepare for Battle! 10.30. Museum Gardens, FREE. Word has reached Earl Ealdred of the arrival of an army from across the Irish Sea. See him muster his forces and prepare for battle. With have-a-go archery and bird of prey displays. Followed at 13.00 by The March to Coppergate. Earl Ealdred leads his troops across the city to Coppergate in an impressive show of strength, in readiness for the battle that is sure to take place in the evening. The March to Coppergate Saturday 20th February, Free Depart Museum Gardens - Earl Ealdred leads his troops across the city to Coppergate in an impressive show of strength… Festival Battle Finale Saturday 20th February, £10 adult, £7.50 Concessions Family of four £30. Family of five £35. Dramatic reconstructions tell the story of Earl Ealdred and his allies preparing for a spectacular Viking funeral. But a menacing force is waiting at the gates, and a bloody battle will surely ensue… With special effects and fantastic fireworks. Ticket information Tickets are available online from www.jorvikbookings.com or by calling the JORVIK Viking Centre on 01904 557208. Press contact: Karen Nixon or Hannah Trinder, The Partners Group, Tel: 01904 610077, Email: Karen@partners-group.co.uk CALLING YORK'S HAIRIEST! 13 January 2010 Love them or hate them, beards are making a comeback in the city as they take centre stage at one of the Jorvik Viking Festival's most popular events. And this year, Festival organisers are on the lookout for the city's most hirsute to judge the competition final on 20th February. Viking Festival organiser Chris Tuckley explains, "This will be the third year we've run the best beard competition and it's one of the Festival's most popular events. "This year, we'd like to give York's bearded superstars the opportunity to choose a winner on the day. So it's time to start cultivating your bristles and decide whether you think your beard is good enough for you to judge the competition. "We're looking for the owner of the best local beard to judge the main competition on 20th February. "Anyone from York who'd like to be considered as a judge should send us a photo of themselves sporting their beard over the next four weeks, and our resident Vikings will choose a winner to judge the Best Beard competition at the Festival." If you think your beard makes the grade - or you can grow one by Friday 5 February - email your photograph to jorvik@yorkat.co.uk or post a copy to the JORVIK Viking Centre, Coppergate, York, YO1 9WT, marked 'I'll be the judge'. The third annual Jorvik Viking Festival Best Beard competition is open to bearded barbarians of all ages wishing to parade his (or her) facial hair and win the ultimate Viking beard trophy. All entrants must register by 1.30pm on Saturday 20 February in Coppergate and be on hand to bare their bristles in a hairy line up. There will be resources available in Coppergate for anyone who wants to create a beard on the day. For full 2010 JORVIK Viking Festival listings please click here - ENDS - For more information about this story please contact Hannah Trinder or Karen Nixon on 01904 610077 / Hannah@partners-group.co.uk / karen@partners-group.co.uk.
JORVIK 3 Announced for 2010 The Minister for Culture, Creative Industries and Tourism has hailed £1million plans to redevelop the world-famous JORVIK Viking Centre a ‘major boost’ to tourism in the region. Speaking at the Viking Centre about York Archaeological Trust’s £1 million plans to redevelop the centre during a visit to York on Tuesday, Barbara Follett said: “This is a major boost for tourism in Yorkshire. The JORVIK Viking Centre is without doubt one of the region’s flagship attractions. It has become one of the cultural ‘rites of passage’ for children, and investing in its future will help ensure that the tourism sector in the region remains buoyant.” Since it opened in York 25 years ago, the Viking Centre has had more than 15 million visitors and has become one of the cultural ‘rites of passage’ for children throughout the UK. Trust chief executive, John Walker, says the redevelopment plans for the centre reflect the charity’s commitment to supporting the wider regional drive to increase annual visitor spend in Yorkshire by £300 million over the next three years. He says: “Domestic tourism is seeing a boost as the recession bites, but we want to see visitor numbers continue to climb as the economy recovers. It’s vital that the UK tourism industry – and historic attractions in particular – invests in its facilities to remain competitive in a fast moving world by staying relevant, interesting and inspiring. “Our feedback shows that visitors to JORVIK are immensely interested in the authentic archaeology behind the centre, and this is at the heart of the redevelopment.” The plans include an underfoot reconstruction of the original Coppergate excavation on which the Viking Centre was built; new, state of the art animatronics and the reconstruction of a new Viking-age house and backyard. Work will start on the redevelopment in November this year for completion by February 2010. Director of attractions, Sarah Maltby, says the Viking Centre will remain open throughout the majority of the redevelopment programme, with a 25% discount on admission prices through November and December. It will close in January 2010 for four weeks. She says; “People often forget that at JORVIK Viking Centre you are standing on the site of one of the most famous and astounding discoveries of modern archaeology. “Thirty years ago, York Archaeological Trust archaeologists revealed the houses, workshops and backyards of the Viking-Age city of Jorvik as it stood 1,000 years ago. “We built the JORVIK Viking Centre on that excavation site, creating a ground breaking visitor experience that changed the face of museums. Our determination to recreate a Viking city as authentically as possible brought in techniques and technology that were then copied by museums all over the world. “We plan to bring that excavation to life within the Viking Centre as part of the redevelopment, as well as installing new, lifelike animatronics, displaying never before seen Viking-age objects and incorporating recent research that has added to the picture of what life was like in 10th century York. “York Archaeological Trust continues to unearth breathtaking discoveries that bring us closer to understanding the everyday lives of our ancestors. From 2009 our explorations will develop further afield and, who knows, there may be another breakthrough just around the corner.”
TRACE YOUR VIKING ROOTS AT JORVIK VIKING CENTRE'S NEW EXHIBITION A new exhibition hitting York's JORVIK Viking Centre in May 2007 will be sure to cause a storm, as it delves into the historic 'melting pot' of York that was created by immigration and trade in Viking times. The unique exhibition will bring together bio-scientific and artefact evidence to determine if visitors could have Viking ancestors. Using computer technology, a 3-dimensional walk-through Viking wharf scene, graphics and interactive activities visitors will be able to investigate: DNA and gene mapping using evidence generated by gene-related studies bone material unearthed by archaeologists and used to map genetic disorders, such as Dupuytren's disease (known as the Viking disease) an oxygen isotope analysis of Viking-age bones and teeth, used to determine where people originate from archaeological environmental evidence, used to reveal what people ate, where their food came from, and what levels of pollution existed in the city of York at the time Viking migration patterns and trading routes to determine if this affected who and what was brought into York, revealed in the biological remains the assimilation of language and the development of dialects a comparative study with immigration and the cultural mix in today's society, with on-line links to relevant web sites. Sarah Maltby, Head of Attractions at the JORVIK Viking Centre, commented: "We're very excited about the new exhibition; it's a combination of modern technology and important Viking era evidence that really will bring the past to life for our visitors. We think it will be hugely popular with families who will be intrigued to investigate whether they have Viking ancestors!" The exhibition will include tactile, audio, and smelling activities to ensure its widest appeal to visitors with disabilities and the very young. The exhibition will run from May 2007. - ends - For more information, please contact Karen Nixon at The Partners Group on 01904 610077, or email karen@partners-group.co.uk'
JORVIK VIKING CENTRE - HOLD YOUR BREATH FOR THE ULTIMATE JOURNEY INTO THE PAST Built on the very site where archaeologists found the remains of the original Viking city of Jorvik, the JORVIK Viking Centre in York offers visitors a unique opportunity to ride in a time-capsule and take a journey through the streets of AD975 Jorvik, a city as important in its day as London or Tokyo. Everything here is based on fact, from the working craftsmen, the chattering noise of the gossiping neighbours to the smells of the cooking, the cesspit and the preserved 1000 year old Viking timber. Passengers are transported through the Viking City of Jorvik, taking in all the sights, sounds and smells, for the most authentic taste of everyday Viking life. Experience a blast of smoke as the capsule travels past the riverside and over the rooftops and filthy sewage-strewn streets, giving you an idea of the impressive size and scale of Jorvik as it was in the 10th century. Travel through the busy Coppergate market place where virtually anything from Viking times can be bought or sold. Witness market traders go about their business noisily buying, selling and arguing over the range of goods on offer. Spy on Viking residents as they go about their daily lives; one unwell Viking is making use of his outdoor toilet - don't forget to hold your nose…the drains weren't particularly advanced in Viking times! At the end of an unforgettable journey, visitors disembark at the JORVIK museum where they can see some of the fascinating Viking artefacts that were once buried under the centre, including a full Viking skeleton And don't forget to visit DIG, the archaeological adventure attraction based at St Saviour's Church, York, which offers visitors the opportunity to take part in an excavation, discover genuine artefacts from ancient civilisations and also understand how archaeologists recreate the past. It is this type of investigation that enabled the archaeologists to reconstruct what life was like in Viking times at JORVIK - so now it's your time to try!
Recently Unearthed: Cemetery of Secrets New exhibition at JORVIK Viking Centre
This new exhibition gives visitors the opportunity to get close to a real, excavated skeleton and explore the theories inspired by the high-profile discovery of 49 headless Romans unearthed during a recent York Archaeological Trust excavation. The new exhibition offers talks about the discovery, and visitors are invited to offer their own theories on what happened. Visitors also get to handle replica shackles, like those found around the legs of one of the skeletons buried on the site.
Artefacts Alive Four Viking ghosts haunt the Artefacts Alive exhibition, providing first-hand descriptions of what life was like for people living in the ancient city. Visitors can listen to the accounts of characters from the meanest blacksmith in York, Grummi, to the cheerful and welcoming housewife, Drifa. The exhibition also has six new interactive multimedia installations, which enable visitors to investigate for themselves what everyday life was like in the year AD 975.

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