Memorial for Sir Thomas Snot
Memorial for Sir Thomas Snot
Originally uploaded by Lady Birchwood. We attended the Minnesota Renaissance Festival yesterday, an annual event for us since shortly after moving here to Minnesota in the mid-1970s. The comedy team of Sir Ralph Puke and Sir Thomas Snot has performed there since the beginning, a team that met with tragedy a month ago upon the sudden and unexpected death of Joe Kudla, 57 years old, the character of Sir Thomas Snot. Mark Sieve (Sir Ralph Puke) knew that Joe, his best friend, would want him to carry on with the show, and so just days before the opening performance of the season, he recruited a new partner, John Gamoke, from those who have studied the role of Sir Thomas Snot over the years.
We went to the show yesterday afternoon. No, it wasn't the same. Everyone knew that it wasn't going to be the same. Joe and Mark knew the routines so well, and knew each other so well, that the performance was a seamless blending their wit and innuendo. Mark made a number of comments and barbs during the rouine that were thinly veiled frustrations at the painful situation.
At the end, the Mark and his new partner bowed to the audience, and then both of them turned and bowed to the memorial onstage which held Joe's sword, his gloves, his mug. Mark's voice cracked as he asked for donations following the performance that would go to Joe's daughter's education fund.
This was the only picture I got at yesterday's festival. I pulled out my camera, intending to have a bit of fun with it, and it gave me the "Empty Battery" screen. The Traveler's Booths at the Festival no longer sell batteries! Seems as though they weren't selling enough of them to make continuing to carry them worthwhile. We turned the camera on before Puke and Snot (Jr.'s) performance and I prayed that there was enough juice to quickly capture this one photo of Joe's memorial. There was.
Long live Sir Thomas Snot.