Maryland Renaissance Festival
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| Maryland Renaissance Festival | |
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Location: Crownsville, Maryland  |
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| Opened: 1977 | |
| Season: August – October | |
| Area: 25 acres | |
| Stages: 10 | |
| Jousting Arenas: 1 | |
| Average Attendance: 12,000 daily, 225,000 season | |
| website: www.rennfest.com | |
The Maryland Renaissance Festival is a recreation of a fictional 16th century English village named Revel Grove. Located in Crownsville (near Annapolis), the festival is spread over 25 acres and is the second largest renaissance festival in the United States. The Renaissance Festival usually runs from the third week of August to the third week of October every year and as such is a celebration of the autumn harvest.[1]
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[edit] Revel Grove
The English Tudor village is 125 acres (0.51 km²) of woods and fields. There are more than 130 craft shops and 42 food outlets. Each season, more than half a million beverages are served at the Festival's eight soft drink stands, five beer stands, and five taverns.[1]
[edit] Entertainment
There are generally 600 people employed by the fair every year and over 1,300 participants working in the various concessions and shows. The acts and performance times change from year to year, depending on scheduling and availability.
Carolyn Spedden, who is the Mistress of Merriment (entertainment director) for the Festival, leads a troupe of performers she directs called Shakespeare's Skum at the Festival every year. They perform short (roughly 20-minute) parodies of Shakespeare plays written by Spedden. Among their plays are "Macbeth in 20 Minutes or Less", "Richard III: Just Misunderstood", "Henry the Vee", "Shakespearean Jeopardy", "Tag Team Romeo & Juliet", "Othello: Having a Bad Day", Leave it to Hamlet", "The Shrew Variations", and "Oh That Lear".
In addition to the Maryland Renaissance Festival, Shakespeare's Skum has performed at such venues as Artscape in Baltimore, the Ontario, Georgia and Maryland Renaissance Festivals, Festival of the Arts on Star Island, NH, a sold out run at the Cramer Center in Manassas, Walters Art Gallery, Center Stage and Axis Theatre in Baltimore, the Folger Library, and an off-Broadway run at the 45th Street Theatre in New York, and others. The Culver City Public Theatre has performed their work.
The following entertainers have appeared regularly at the festival.[1]
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Shakespeare's Skum performs Shakespeare parodies at the Festival and elsewhere. |
[edit] Acts
- Shakespeare's Skum
- Johnny Fox
- Dinty the Moor
- Hack & Slash
- Puke & Snot
[edit] Shows
- Shakespeare's Skum
- A Fool Named "O"
- Hypnosis Bob
[edit] Games
- An incredible Giant wooden slide, Built by Marque Simythe, brother of the owner of the Rennfest, as a joke between him and Lucas Edis, slide operator.
- Archery
- Jacob's ladder
- Human Chess
- Knife throw
- Star throw
- Axe throw
- Battle axe throw
- Darts
- Drench a wench / Soak a bloke
[edit] Musicians & Singers
- Bayfield Brass
- Camerata Musica
- Cat and the Fiddle Morris
- Consort Anon.
- L'ensemble Cercamon
- Esty's Harp and Voice
- Flatpickin'
- Fol-de-rol
- Gregory of Carrolton
- Gypsophilia
- Larksong
- Darcy Nair
- The O'Danny Girls
- Pluck, Celtic harpist
- The Pyrates Royale
- Renaissance Revelers
- The Rogues
- Maggie Sansone, hammered dulcimer player
- Seraphim
- The Singers Madrigale
- Jonathan Strum, troubadour
- Thomas Tallis, virginals
- Wolgemut
- The Rumming Gang
[edit] Food
There is a wide variety of food available at the fair. Some of the more famous choices are the whole turkey legs and many "foods on a stick." Among the available fare:
- Fish on a stick
- Cheesecake on a stick
- Steak on a Stake
- Macaroni & Cheese on a stick
- "Knave" Sandwich
- Scotch Egg
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ a b c Faire Information. Maryland Renaissance Festival. Retrieved on October 8, 2007.
[edit] External links
