Friends, Fun, Flips and Photo ops at the Faire!

What a difference a few hundred degrees make! The weather this past weekend was perfectly beautiful!

Saturday, I got off to a slow start. I woke up later than I intended to and did a rush job to get ready. The first half of the day, I really wasn't feeling up to the faire, and was pretty much just going through the motions. By the time I got to performing Twelfth Night, however, I regained my excitement for what I was doing. I have to say, the play on both days went rather well. In fact, there were a couple of college students on their last excursion before returning to school, who came to see it on both days. They were so charmingly genuine, fun loving and enthusiastic (okay, and good looking...), that I wish I could have spent some time with them outside of my character.

When I fight on the Chessboard, I never ever hear audience reaction. I'm not sure why, perhaps I am so focused that everything gets tuned out. But I'm told that my fight with Chant MacLeod, who plays the Sheriff of Nottingham, gets some major reactions from the crowd. There's one move in where he flips me, which I execute by doing a shoulder roll and not landing on my feet, letting them flop on the ground. Well, I guess there was so much momentum, that when my feet shot out of the roll, I felt my entire body skid and bounce, feeling like I traveled some distance. It didn't hurt at all, but I'm sure it looked great. I hope I can remember how it happened, so that I can do it again!

Before the final joust, Justin Lewis came backstage with his family. Justin is one of my favorite all time people on the planet. He was one of my first stage combat instructors, who became a true friend. He's also the one responsible for getting me to perform at the faire. He is not performing this year, as he and his wife, Karma, are expecting their second child. I played a bit with his daughter, Kaya, who is now two years old and truly delightful. I've posted this photo twice before on my blog, but I'm doing so again simply because I love it. This is Justin with his daughter and Oso last year.



Saturday I was deeply honored at Pub Sing, when two young ladies whom I had met last year found me after searching for me the entire day. I instantly remembered Jennifer, a young lady with Cerebral Palsy, and she was lifted out of her wheelchair to dance with me. This was a moment I will never forget, as long as I live.

Sunday's weather was even better. There was a constant cool breeze waltzing though the shire the entire day.

It was the best day I've had this year. I was much more comfortable with my time constraints, and got out and did some heavy work on the streets. Every single person I came into contact with was a joy, especially the children. Laughter is probably the sweetest sound on Earth, but coming from children, I get a taste of what Heaven must be like.

Just before Court Dance, I met two little girls, who when I asked them their names, the little one told me that she was four years old and that her name was Serenity, to which I replied, "Serenity?! I have been looking for you all my life! And I finally found you!!!", she then introduced me to her six year old big sister, Legacy. I kept running into them throughout the day, which was nice, as they were so adorable.

The Faire has a number of musical acts, my favorite being The Reelies. They perform one of their sets just before we sing the Madrigals. So, I decided that instead of simply waiting on the side for them to finish, I would dance in the street. Well, apparently I was doing something interesting because dozens of people starting taking photos. So, no doubt I'll being finding a good shot of that at some point.

Then there is Charlie... What can I say about Charlie? Charlie is the pony I've been riding on the joust field prior to the Final Joust. Well, I don't know what was going on with him, perhaps it was the change in the weather, but Charlie was in particularly bad temper this weekend. As I rode him, he began to buck and while I managed to stay on him Saturday, he did succeed in throwing me on Sunday. I wasn't hurt at all and managed to make a bit out of it, but I've decided that if Charlie is adamantly against doing this, I'm not going to force him to just for a comic photo op. (We've concluded that there's clearly a good reason he's not used for children's pony rides!) So, next week, if there isn't another pony available, I'm planning to ride Beulah, a very large Belgian horse, instead. She is so large, that my small self upon her is almost as funny as being on the pony. Perhaps I'll give Charlie another go later on, but for now I don't think it's a great idea.

Our trumpeters are amazing! They have fun with the fanfares for each of the jouster's entrances. Typically, Kelly Kilcoyne who plays Maid Marion, gets the theme from the recent Peter Pan movie. Jeff DeRocker, as Sir Guy DeGisborn, gets Darth Vader's Imperial March theme, and Nick Freeley, as Nicholas DeMarque, who previously got the Indian Jones theme, now gets a tune specially written for him by Chant. Well, we have a new jouster, Paul Adams, playing Sir Wilfred of Ivanhoe, who finally received his official fanfare. As he rode out, the trumpeters played the theme from Monty Python and the Holy Grail! This managed to instantly break the entire cast into stitches!

I thought hard through the week to come up with my Good Ale verses to perform at Pub Sing, and here they are.....

Saturday

So many friends here to meet,
So take a load off your feet,
And enjoy our dance and song,
For Pub Sing is very long!

Sunday

If you want your way with me,
Don't get me drunk, or you will see,
That though, my sweet, you're so bodacious,
I'll get even mo' loquacious!