Continuing in my grand tradition, my visit to The Maryland Renaissance Festival coincided with one of the rainiest festival weekends ever! Saturday morning started out clear, but by mid-afternoon the rain was coming down in buckets. My skirts were soaked. My leine was soaked. My shoes were covered in mud ... I wore my slashed shoes and the ice blue puffs are now dirty brown and will probably be that way forever. Sunday morning was more of the same. For a while it looked like my day was going to be spent in Middleton's Tavern. There was just enough time between downpours to run ... well, slog through the mud ... from one pub to another. At least I had no trouble walking on Sunday ... I gave up on the period footwear and wore my heavy-duty hiking boots!
When it wasn't raining, there was a lot to do. This was Skum Reunion Weekend and just about all of the past and present members of Shakespeare's Skum were there. There were more Skum productions of Shakespeare in that one weekend than I had ever seen before. And each performance had a different cast!
Thanks to the rain, I spent more time in pubs that I usually do. That was good since I finally got to see a complete Pyrates Royale show. And I got to hang out with my friends White Dragon and Emerald Dragon (hmmm ... is there a pattern here?) and visit with all my boothie friends. So it was a good weekend, even if I did have to do laundry twice!
As the Bard said, "All the world's a stage" and this weekend that was literally
true for Theatre in the Ground.
Normally found at
The Jury Rig Stage, the mud players
paid a visit to
Middleton's Tavern
to feast on oysters, crab and brew.
Mimi the Mime
can be found all over
Revel Grove.
Sometimes she is playing with fire (although this weekend the rain tended
to put a damper on that pasttime), sometimes walking on stilts (yes, she
did get out and about on the stilts in the mud) and sometimes she is
making bubbles.
Kids love bubbles. They love to chase them and try to catch them and
then they get so excited when the bubbles burst.
The Butterfly Man
juggled for the audience at the
Market Stage.
He wasn't actually on the stage ... he was under the awning where it
was a bit drier and the audience simply surrounded him.
This made the show more intimate; the kids in particular loved the idea
of him being down among the patrons.
Now, I don't know which came first, the name or the tatoo, but
The Butterfly Man
has a very large tatoo of a butterfly on the top of his head.
Unfortunately, I didn't get a good picture of it (that seemed to be a problem
the entire weekend ... not getting the good pictures that I wanted, I mean).
Appearing at the Gatehouse Stage
(when it wasn't under water) are
Columbina Andreini
(Michele Schultz)
and
Pedrolino Goldoni
(Stephen M. Denz)
as
Teatro de Pecorino Romano.
Wearing traditional masks, these 2 players perform as a multitude of characters.
My partiuclar favorite is Stupina.
By the way, that is Michele as one of her characters from Teatro at the top of this page
Hack and Slash
are back!
These guys are one of my favorite acts at Maryland.
And they are popular with the rest of the patrons, too.
Even on a rain day, they played to a full house
at the Globe Theatre.
Crossbows, sword fighting and comedy ... how can you beat that
combination?
And amidst all the muck and mire, I ran across these two
Celtic Harpists
Great musicians will perform anytime.
Even though there was standing water throughout the Festival grounds, the
Free Lancers
continued to
joust.
The list is covered with a tarp between jousts; this keeps the rain off
of the center area where the actual combat takes place.
The crowd kept hoping for an unhorsing.
I think they just wanted to see one of the knights fall in the mud.
Imagine all that shiney armour with big splotches of mud all over it.
The squires were up to their knees in the mud and muck as they ran
along the fence.
Sometimes they seemed to be moving in slow motion.
Sunday morning was wet!
The rain came through in waves ... 20 minutes of rain followed by 10 minutes of sun followed
by more rain, etc., etc., etc.
There weren't a lot of patrons on Sunday morning, mostly just the die-hard A.F.R.
folke, playtrons and renfaire junkies.
As you can see, not a lot of people.
But there was
a lot of mud!
Those of us who were there Sunday morning crowded into
Middleton's Tavern
to hear the
Pyrates Royale
perform.
And perform. And perform.
As long as people kept applauding and encouraging them, the Pyrates kept singing.
It was a captive crowd, but as long as the ale and oysters kept coming,
and the Pyrates kept singing, everyone had a good time!
Once it stopped raining on Sunday (yes, it did stop in the afternoon), the
patrons came out!
True, there weren't as many of them as on a nice weather day, but there
were enough to make
Revel Grove
seem less like a
private party and more like a Festival.
And of course, some of the more macho patrons had to test their
strength.
Mark Jaster is back again as
A Fool Named "O"
at the
Lyric Stage
(that's the stage with the big blue pipe organ ... it was very popular this
weekend since it offered performers a place to stand out of the rain
).
And as you can see, rain did not keep the patrons away from
this performance.
This is truly a family show ... Mark's children are performing with him!
Over on Stub Toe Lane is a booth that shelters a multitude of dragons, all looking for a home. At the Sleeping Dragon you can find big dragons, little baby dragons, and wee bodice dragons. The dragon maker for all of these beasties is my friend, Kathryn. She gives each dragon special instructions before sending it off to a new home. When the crowds get to be too much, I like to stop in and visit with Kathryn. She lets me sit on her back porch and stuff dragons. 'Tis a grand way to pass a rainy afternoon, particularly since her back porch faces the Globe Theater.
I could spend and entire day at the
Globe Theater.
I almost did, too.
I spent most of Sunday (after I left the pubs) sitting on my friend Kathryn's back porch
watching the various theatrical performances.
Hey, why sit on a wet bench when I can sit on a dry one?
One of the shows was a version of the classic fairy tale
about the Princess and the Frog
(is this The Bloody Drama III? I was never able to figure that out).
I finally got to see a production of
Richard III
by
Shakespeare's Skum.
I had never seen this play before, although I do know the basic story line.
Richard kills his family one by one, and then is killed himself.
OK, there is a bit more to the play than that, after all, the production
is longer than 5 minutes; it is 30 minutes!
The scene on the left is from early in the play.
You can tell because the King is the only figure crossed out on the score board.
The image on the right gives you a good idea of the setting for the
Globe Theater.
Yes, there are lots of trees.
And sometimes those trees can interfere with a clear view of the stage.
But that's generally only a problem for the people way, way in the back
in the "cheap seats".
Once again the village of Revel Grove put on their own theatrical production this year.
For some reason their choice was this new piece by an unknown
(yet soon to be famous if she has her way) author titled
Romeo and Ethel, the Pirate King's Daughter.
Full of pirates, romance adventure and the obligatory sword fights, this
show will astound you with its ... well, whatever it has, it will astound
you with it!
Does Romeo win the hand of the Pirate King's Daughter?
Does he even want it?
Visit The Globe Theater
at noon and find out.
One of my favorite people at Maryland is
Sinnius Vice.
If ever there was a reprobate clergyman, it's him.
Here I've caught him in a rare, dry, moment on Sunday morning, waiting for
the opening gate.
I wasn't the only Texan at Maryland over Labor Day weekend!
Two of my special friends,
Yancy
and her sister
Charlie
made a surprise visit to see
The Freelancers
(Yancy squires for the Freelancers at Scarborough).
That's
Yancy
on the left,
Kate Cox
in the middle and
Charlie
on the right.
There were a lot of shows that I didn't get to see this year because of the rain: Master Lee, Johnny Fox, Tom Crowl and the Wench, The Dueling Sherriffs, and many others. Next year it won't rain (I am making this statement now, so it will be true in the future ... yes, I am an optimist) and I'll get to see everything!
My standard disclaimer: I am not associated with the Maryland Renaissance Festival. I am but a simple patron.