Kearney Park RenFaire & 12th Night
... was good, warm & cold (but not wet), fun, light on responsibilities for me, and just plain fun.
I would start my mornings in royal court area, sitting with her majesty and the other ladies of court while waiting for the noon show. This year the king would do a round of progress on his own, as he's coming in from France, while the ladies waited with the Queen, who would greet him at the main stage with presents given from/for both, along with the usual presentation of gifts from the local villagers. Chris did a good job as an elderly Henry VIII, but I didn't spend a lot of time around him or court this weekend.
I again played Lady Cumberland, this time Eleanor Brandon Clifford, and found that I had a husband cast (much to our mutual surprise). There was also another Lady Cumberland, the very lady I told at Hanford that I wanted to again play Lady Cumberland, and who said that was fine. I am trying not to take it personally, and I think for the most part it didn't matter, as we did joke about her being "the other woman". But in retrospect, it makes me wonder what the point of having a named character at any event when most people no longer know or care, and it is just a different name in the character roster. I just happen to prefer Lady Cumberland in general, because I have done the homework, know the characters relatively well, and it helps me to be consistent, even with the different time periods we do (from 1509 to 1595). The only exception to Cumberland occurs early to mid-Henry, as the title hasn't been created, so I end up with some random woman of court. Yeah it would be easier to be consistent, but I guess those days of specific titles for a person to play are past.
On a costume note, a friend of mine was wearing in her Tudor turnback gown sleeves a faux spotted ermine type of fur, and that really caught my eye, as she is usually playing a baroness. Usually at faire, such furs are worn by the Royals, not lesser ranks of nobles, but she mentioned that this was not the case in history. So, I had to look it up. And she was right! So, add that to my notes of updated costume myths. It seems that "sable fur" was of the highest esteem in the sumptuary laws. The idea of the spotted ermine for Royals, is that such was worn on the monarch's mantle when s/he was crowned as monarch, and was done since medieval times, but the laws don't limit it otherwise. I still don't think I want the fur she used, as it seemed a bit more spikey looking with the black on white. I think I will stay with the more reserved looking furs. But it was good learning something new!
Another thing I learned was the the larp boffer group at the far range end of the trebuchet thrown pumpkins is called House Blue Dragon of Reno. They do larp, amtgard, and renfaires, depending on whatever they want to go and be involved with, or who will pay them money to come. The guy I spoke with, Adam, says he even Beta tested WW's World of Darkness games, when I mentioned I used to larp in that style. Do you know how many people have told me that over the years? And yes, a *few* actually did. Guess it would be easy enough to confirm... if I cared. At least they did provide a lot of safe whacking fun for the kiddies, which RaeLynn (the Queen/faire producer) told me she liked.
So I spent much of my time hanging around with hsifeng, discussing a little on various costumes we saw (quietly to ourselves), reminiscing a lot, talking about a variety of things, watched her and her hubby shoot their muskets, got a little tipsy (ok, I haven't felt tipsy like that in over a decade - but it's the fault of the Dirty Scots Tavern, who make really tasty good drinks), wandered faire chatting with other folks, checking out some of the merchants stuff, meeting old friends, watching the pumpkins and cabbage get tossed by the two trebuchets at the event (one smaller scale, one full sized), watching the Medieval Madness Tour (3 comedy jugglers in one show), and just having fun at the last ren-faire event of the year. My dear, we need to do that more often.
I was also asked to be a sci-fi/fantasy con costume judge (I so don't know much on that genre), but... I will be in L.A. teaching that same weekend so I *had* to decline (the lady isn't otherwise used to hearing no it seems).
And I learned that there will be no local 12th Night put on by St. Henry's (pout). There is another 12th Night event, but it is a private guild event. I could probably finagle an invite (I know many of those involved), but I am pondering going to an SCA 12th Night just to see what that is all about. Question there is... West Kingdom (3.5 hr drive) or my own Kingdom event (5 hour drive), or just staying home and avoiding the foggy drive altogether.
I would start my mornings in royal court area, sitting with her majesty and the other ladies of court while waiting for the noon show. This year the king would do a round of progress on his own, as he's coming in from France, while the ladies waited with the Queen, who would greet him at the main stage with presents given from/for both, along with the usual presentation of gifts from the local villagers. Chris did a good job as an elderly Henry VIII, but I didn't spend a lot of time around him or court this weekend.
I again played Lady Cumberland, this time Eleanor Brandon Clifford, and found that I had a husband cast (much to our mutual surprise). There was also another Lady Cumberland, the very lady I told at Hanford that I wanted to again play Lady Cumberland, and who said that was fine. I am trying not to take it personally, and I think for the most part it didn't matter, as we did joke about her being "the other woman". But in retrospect, it makes me wonder what the point of having a named character at any event when most people no longer know or care, and it is just a different name in the character roster. I just happen to prefer Lady Cumberland in general, because I have done the homework, know the characters relatively well, and it helps me to be consistent, even with the different time periods we do (from 1509 to 1595). The only exception to Cumberland occurs early to mid-Henry, as the title hasn't been created, so I end up with some random woman of court. Yeah it would be easier to be consistent, but I guess those days of specific titles for a person to play are past.
On a costume note, a friend of mine was wearing in her Tudor turnback gown sleeves a faux spotted ermine type of fur, and that really caught my eye, as she is usually playing a baroness. Usually at faire, such furs are worn by the Royals, not lesser ranks of nobles, but she mentioned that this was not the case in history. So, I had to look it up. And she was right! So, add that to my notes of updated costume myths. It seems that "sable fur" was of the highest esteem in the sumptuary laws. The idea of the spotted ermine for Royals, is that such was worn on the monarch's mantle when s/he was crowned as monarch, and was done since medieval times, but the laws don't limit it otherwise. I still don't think I want the fur she used, as it seemed a bit more spikey looking with the black on white. I think I will stay with the more reserved looking furs. But it was good learning something new!
Another thing I learned was the the larp boffer group at the far range end of the trebuchet thrown pumpkins is called House Blue Dragon of Reno. They do larp, amtgard, and renfaires, depending on whatever they want to go and be involved with, or who will pay them money to come. The guy I spoke with, Adam, says he even Beta tested WW's World of Darkness games, when I mentioned I used to larp in that style. Do you know how many people have told me that over the years? And yes, a *few* actually did. Guess it would be easy enough to confirm... if I cared. At least they did provide a lot of safe whacking fun for the kiddies, which RaeLynn (the Queen/faire producer) told me she liked.
So I spent much of my time hanging around with hsifeng, discussing a little on various costumes we saw (quietly to ourselves), reminiscing a lot, talking about a variety of things, watched her and her hubby shoot their muskets, got a little tipsy (ok, I haven't felt tipsy like that in over a decade - but it's the fault of the Dirty Scots Tavern, who make really tasty good drinks), wandered faire chatting with other folks, checking out some of the merchants stuff, meeting old friends, watching the pumpkins and cabbage get tossed by the two trebuchets at the event (one smaller scale, one full sized), watching the Medieval Madness Tour (3 comedy jugglers in one show), and just having fun at the last ren-faire event of the year. My dear, we need to do that more often.
I was also asked to be a sci-fi/fantasy con costume judge (I so don't know much on that genre), but... I will be in L.A. teaching that same weekend so I *had* to decline (the lady isn't otherwise used to hearing no it seems).
And I learned that there will be no local 12th Night put on by St. Henry's (pout). There is another 12th Night event, but it is a private guild event. I could probably finagle an invite (I know many of those involved), but I am pondering going to an SCA 12th Night just to see what that is all about. Question there is... West Kingdom (3.5 hr drive) or my own Kingdom event (5 hour drive), or just staying home and avoiding the foggy drive altogether.