What Is Le Poulet Gauche?

Le Poulet Gauche exists in the context of the SCA (Society for Creative Anachronism), a group dedicated to historical recreation of the Middle Ages and Renaissance. Most of the principals live in the Barony of Carolingia (Boston, Massachusetts) in the East Kingdom, but the Poulet Gauche itself travels to different SCA events.

Le Poulet Gauche is a tavern, inhabited by a family (J. du Lac et filz), its servants, various card-sharpers, local characters, and foreign travellers, and anyone who wants to visit. We open at SCA events, which means that we aren’t a "Ren Faire" kind of entertainment – you have to be willing to play with us, to dress up and be part of the experience. You don’t have to be a member of the SCA in order to play.

Le PG grew out a series of email conversations about "small events" where people could hang out and interact in character, doing ordinary things like playing games, having a drink, telling tales. For us, ambience is everything. It has grown into a twice-a-year event (winter and summer) where we strive each time to create for you a more and more authentic cabaret.

In order to create an authentic tavern, we had to locate it in a real place and time. The place and time is the port city of Calais, exactly 400 years from today. As the modern calendar moves forward, so does life in Le Poulet Gauche. Because we know when and where we are, we can dig into the environment and use it to create the ambiance of a real historical experience. Every edition of Le Poulet Gauche we strive to be more accurate to the life and times of our setting, and one of these days you'll be able to walk in and swear you've just stepped through a time warp. You'll find exactly the right kind of furniture, the right kind of dishes, the right kind of food and drink, and meet the kind of people you really would have met if you'd just gotten off the boat and stepped in for a drink. We’ve got folks engaged in all kinds of research projects around these things -- it's quite exciting to discover little details like how wide the tablecloths were, how many chairs we would have had, and how to cook with redware in an open hearth.

Most of the "staff" have ended up created some flavor or other of alternate persona in order to fit in with the setting. We encourage you to try doing the same -- the opportunity seems to have released all sorts of creativity from some previously staid personas :-). To get acquainted with these people, see:

And just what does "Poulet Gauche" mean?

Many people have asked us how the Poulet Gauche got its name. Our first appearance was at a fencing contest, which has something to do with it. There are many tales, all purporting to be the "true" story. The name is a pun on "main gauche", the left-handed parrying dagger carried by swordsmen. The rest is up to you...


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