Albany Mall Display, 3-4 October 2015
Imperium-Romana put on a promotional display in the Centre Court of the Mall over a 2-day school holiday weekend. We displayed gladiator and Roman gear, lorica segmentata armour, various Roman shields (including our copy of the famous Dura-Europos shield) and out fearsome Scorpion ballista set up to fire Roman ballista-bolts straight down the length of the Mall. We answered questions from a curious public, and gave demonstrations and explanations, even letting them try out some of the gear. We had free face-painting for the kids, in blue woad as an Ally of Rome, and overwhelmed by such queues that Lisa, Petra and Simon were all painting faces at once (although Simon's queue grew longer while he gave extra care to the pretty women doing it for a laugh).
The Mall management were very impressed with our presentation and professionalism, and said they had received great positive feedback from the public. However, many shoppers assumed that our display gear was for sale, and so Jason manning the desk had to deflect many inquiries wanting to know how much to buy various items! We probably could've sold the whole lot. The recruitment drive was a great success because we gained a new soldier, Mitch, on Saturday, who arrived Sunday right on the dot - always the sign of a good Roman - and pictured below left.
For the Mall shoppers' entertainment we put on a gladiator display of Idunna v. Jorkellus at 1pm both days, and attracted a large appreciative and fascinated audience. Before the show one large tattooed Maori lady had asked about fighting, but when I pointed out Idunna to her, she took a step backwards and said she thought it might be easier for her "to fight youse Romans" even though we were all armed and in full seg! When the victorious Roman Jorkellus defeated Idunna, to everyone's surprise the barbarian Drest (Simon Neumegen) leapt out of the audience and into the arena to avenge Idunna's honour. These were very physical fights with the clang of steel on steel ringing out across the Mall, and on several occasions showers of sparks from clashing swords had the crowd gasping. They had to vote for life or death with their thumbs.
About an hour after the show a mother returned from her grocery shopping with her young wide-eyed daughter who was very anxious and concerned to check that Idunna was really okay, after having been beaten up by that evil Jorkellus! Petra showed the girl that she was fine, and that it was just all pretend, and they had a good laugh about it. The interactions that we had with the general public were all great fun, and we plan on returning to complete Caesar's conquest.
Watch the fight on the video below...
The Mall management were very impressed with our presentation and professionalism, and said they had received great positive feedback from the public. However, many shoppers assumed that our display gear was for sale, and so Jason manning the desk had to deflect many inquiries wanting to know how much to buy various items! We probably could've sold the whole lot. The recruitment drive was a great success because we gained a new soldier, Mitch, on Saturday, who arrived Sunday right on the dot - always the sign of a good Roman - and pictured below left.
For the Mall shoppers' entertainment we put on a gladiator display of Idunna v. Jorkellus at 1pm both days, and attracted a large appreciative and fascinated audience. Before the show one large tattooed Maori lady had asked about fighting, but when I pointed out Idunna to her, she took a step backwards and said she thought it might be easier for her "to fight youse Romans" even though we were all armed and in full seg! When the victorious Roman Jorkellus defeated Idunna, to everyone's surprise the barbarian Drest (Simon Neumegen) leapt out of the audience and into the arena to avenge Idunna's honour. These were very physical fights with the clang of steel on steel ringing out across the Mall, and on several occasions showers of sparks from clashing swords had the crowd gasping. They had to vote for life or death with their thumbs.
About an hour after the show a mother returned from her grocery shopping with her young wide-eyed daughter who was very anxious and concerned to check that Idunna was really okay, after having been beaten up by that evil Jorkellus! Petra showed the girl that she was fine, and that it was just all pretend, and they had a good laugh about it. The interactions that we had with the general public were all great fun, and we plan on returning to complete Caesar's conquest.
Watch the fight on the video below...
