The Adequate Blog

Sauce for the goose, gander, here’s 10 for the folks that “do” Faire…

DO’s

• DO Pack Spares
  Spares of anything you find essential to keeping yourself in one piece out on site. If your Guild / Booth has a “lockup”, keep ‘em there. If you don’t… just plan on hauling a little bit more back and forth. You’ll be glad you did the day you actually need it.
• DO Respect “Gig” and Stage Boundaries
  All the Faire’s a Stage - but not all the Faire has enough soundproofing to keep you from accidentally drawing someone else’s hard-won crowd. Of course, some things (*coughPARADEcough*) can’t be told to knock it off, but if you’re going through or past someone else’s “gig” or performance, give ‘em a little courtesy and they’ll be more likely to do the same for you.
• DO Remember to Eat and Drink Real Food and Water
  If your boss / guildmaster / director isn’t harping on you about this… then they’re not doing their job and I’ll do it. Remember: Man does not live on Ale alone!
• DO WARM UP!
  This is theatre and your voice and body need to be limber and ready for the mayhem you’re about to inflict on your fellow man! Especially if you had Way Too Much Fun last night. (See also: eat/drink food/water)
• DO Remember to Have Fun
  Remember, if you aren’t having fun doing this - you need to find something else to do with your weekends!
• DO WEAR SUNSCREEN
  The All Caps Monster strikes again - Sunscreen. Put it on. Put more on during the day. Your body will thank you on Monday when your friend at work slaps you on the shoulder.
• DO Play Nice
  One more time: This is supposed to be fun. Flirt, play, banter, frolic if you feel up to it. People paid to get in the gate to have a good time, so get out there and help them do it.

And now, the DON’Ts

• DON’T Use Faire as Your Day Care Center
  … bit of a sore spot for me and most variety acts. If you have children, please be kind to your fellow Rennies and keep an eye on them, and that includes vetting who’s keeping an eye on them when you can’t. Please don’t use stage shows as “dump sites’ for your kids whilst you go off and frolic.
  If you do let your kidlets come see shows, please teach them that the first three rows should be for paying customers, and that they won’t be chosen every time for whatever volunteer from the audience bit happens on the stage.  Everyone will be happier in the long run.
• DON’T Be Afraid to “Lose” in a Gig
  “Gigging” is, of course, improvisational theater using one or more actors. A lot of this “gigging” is going to involve some sort of conflict between two characters. I speak from experience here - Do not be afraid to “lose” in this conflict - We all want to “win” but sometimes “losing” is far more entertaing to the audience, and it can be a heck of a lot of fun to come up with ways to Not Win.  My gigging hero, Bryce Byerly, once lost a swordfight… to a hat.  THAT, my friends, is genius.
• DON’T Be a “Guild Lump”
  Get yourself out and go shoppies, see a show, listen to music and play for God Sake! Mingle with the patrons, with your fellow performers, see a show, sing along, or just frolic like you got no sense! But step outside of the safety zone of your Guild Area at least once a day and play!

Phew. That’s another 10 DO’s and DON’Ts (is it even possible to punctuate that right?)… any thoughts? Let me know.

Oh yeah - this blog is “Mirrored” over on Facebook - and I’ve been copying and pasting comments from there to here. Any Facebook peeps who don’t want me to do so, just let me know, ok?

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