Eindhoven, Friday 27th June 2008

Fectio Index

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Eindhoven, Openluchtmuseum
Wednesday 27 June 2008

We were once more contacted by the NCRV about a TV series they were filming. The series, Willem Wever, is ashow aimed at children between the ages of 9 and 12, showing several items relating to science and general knowledge every week, including a 5-minute item about Dutch history, the HOT or History Research Team.
The end result can be seen here (click).

Eindhoven and surrounding area.

Detailed image of the Historic Open Air Museum Eindhoven.

The subject of the filming expedition was, again, to be the Batavian insurrection of the years 69-70 AD, to be filmed at, again, the Historical Open Air Museum Eindhoven (HOME). That was a bit strange! In contrast with our visit to the park last spring, the mud had gone and a warm sun had turned the courtyards into dusty but solid playgrounds. Other changes to last time were a contingent of Batavian auxiliaries and the female part of Fectio; Marrit and Janneke were also present.

The Batavian village, again a perfect location for this venue, especially with the sun playing along.

First though was the make-up - in a large tent opposite the inn, we received clothing and material of the first century AD from Hanneke, who really did an enormous job making us all look good! About six persons not used to the Republic era, or even total newbies to Roman re-enacting. A terrific job!

When everyone had their clothing and armour right, it was time to begin shooting the series. The camera crew and director began working us through take after take after take.. The kids loved it and even posed with Raymi Sambo of the History Research Team (HOT)! Jeroen had done this before after all but for Marrit playing a role was quite new. We had more ‘TV-virgins’ such as our Janneke - Jasper even doubly so, he had never before even been involved in re-enactment! We've got him! Jasper Oorthuys re-enacting for the first time!

Trouble in the Batavian village. The Romans have wronged the Batavi, who are getting more and more upset. Civilis has dyed his beard red – a sign of trouble to come! More and more Batavi take up arms.

A Batavian child seems to be playing, the women are still very friendly - a false sense of tranquillity! The Romans seem oblivious of the coming troubles and the rising anger of the Batavi.

The uprising begins! Civilis leads his troops in an ambush of the Roman forces in his lands. War! The Romans defend themselves.. Civilis is killed in battle! An unexpected end to the uprising.. Ah, wait… it did not end quite like that..

Actually, we did attempt to change history. Our ‘Civilis’ (Gerard) fell hard during a charge and for a few scary moments we had to fear he had been injured quite badly. We were all quite shaken – accidents happen in re-enactment, but when they occur it’s always a nasty shock. Luckily it turned out to be not so bad, and he was limping about quite happily about our break for lunch. But the battle was over nonetheless. I must say that for us Romans it was kinda hard to be 'defeated' in that battle. I mean, Romans usually win, don't they? But we went into the fight full tilt! :)

Later that afternoon we shot some scenes of the start of the uprising, of Batavi patrolling the woods, of Romans fleeing for their lives and as vengeful Romans burning the fields and terrorising the Batavi citizens. I was dressed in a toga for the first time (now that was not easy - thanks Hanneke!) but the scene had been dropped when I arrived on the set. In the end we had a good day of filming, which is always a nice experience. Especially the kids had a good time. Too bad most of what we did was never seen in the 5-minute result on TV!

Romans read Ancient Warfare!