The medieval era was a time of great jollity, when minstrels traveled from town to town performing select scenes from mildly popular WB sitcoms. Escape from the modern day to the unmodern day with today's Groupon: for $29, you get an adult ticket to a medieval comedy show and a four-course all-you-can-eat feast and drinks at Medieval Madness in Alexandria (up to a $59 value). While Medieval Madness serves alcohol, this Groupon is not valid for it.
Once guests at Medieval Madness step through the doors and into Renaissance Hall, the year is 1416, the country is England, and all are invited to the anniversary feast of the Duke and Duchess of Salem. Guests watch the comedic events unfold as they sup on offerings from the four-course, medieval menu. While fare changes regularly, past repasts have included multigrain bread with blackberries and walnuts, great hunks of roasted beef carved on reproduction dining tables, roasted game fowl with carrots and herbs, and warm apple turnovers. Just like in the 15th century, the meal is all you can eat, consumed by hand, and accompanied by _Canterbury Tales_–themed crossword puzzles. Fair maidens ferry meals tableside. With a sated stomach and funnied funny bone, the ambience probes one's imagination, channeling the Middle Ages through the ornate ceiling, wooden plates, and the duke and duchess's impressively carved thrones. The atmosphere takes a turn for the steely after the meal, with a nonchoreographed sword fight between fully armed and armored knights.
Medieval Madness's professional cadre of mirth-makers has plenty of experience staging scenes and making history come to life with a cast that has included magicians, actors, and a swordmistress. There's no dress code at Medieval Madness, so don't feel uncomfortably self-conscious if the only thing you have to wear is an anachronistic middle-Renaissance brocade doublet. Guests are absolved of the guilt of unquenched thirst by the friar, who runs the cash bar throughout the dinner and performance.
Though Medieval Madness sometimes features a discounted price online, this Groupon still offers the best deal available.
Medieval Madness
Even though the banquet hall at Medieval Madness is eternally stuck in the 15th century, its court isn't content to perform the same show forever. Every four months, the troupe updates its production of comedy and knightly combat, swapping out nods to politics and modern life as often as kings jail their favorite jesters for disobeying the fashion police. Each evening's reverie begins with a four-course meal served family style at long banquet tables. Like the show, the menu regularly rotates, though it always includes a succulent pear sauce crafted from an 800-year-old recipe, a perfect complement when drizzled over roasted meats or smeared on an opposing clan's coat of arms. Throughout the evening, guests watch on as the duke and duchess lob insults at each other and wenches break into tawdry songs.