Messenger:
Research:&&
Props:
Costuming: ""
Difficulty: ®®®
A medium-difficulty character for the actor just beginning to get their
crowd nerves. A messenger is part crier and part herald without
needing to be as loud and outgoing as either. This character carries
messages from one person to the next, often with comic effect.
Especially good if you want to play at being illiterate and try to
memorize the message. Ever play 'telephone' when you were a kid? Also
a good straight man for any gig. Hey, don’t kill the messenger!
Miner:
Research:&&
Props:
Costuming: ""
Difficulty: ®®®®
Want to play a filthy character and not be a beggar? All you need
is a set of garb made out of heavier-than-usual material (canvas), a
mining implement, a hat with a candle melted on it, a bird cage and a
lot of dirt on your clothes and your face. Could be a fun role for the
correct person.
Minstrel:
Research:&&&&& (learning to play an instrument can take years!)
Props: (instruments can be expensive!)
Costuming: ""
Difficulty: ®®®®®
Do you play an instrument? Much like Actors, Acrobats, Fools and other
entertainers mentioned herein itinerant Minstrels were not an uncommon
sight in the 16th century. Like storytellers and street players (and
more nefarious sorts), they wandered from market to market plying their
trade. Check with the faire for the rules on busking (putting a hat
down) before you do so, but otherwise, it is always good to have more
music in the air at a faire. Just be mindful of the paid acts and
don’t step on their shows with your free playing, and most of the
musicians that play faires will be happy to talk shop with you between
gigs or after hours during the jam sessions in the pub. Incidentally,
this is a good way to try your hand at playing in front of a faire
crowd if you think you might want to do it “for real” one day.
Monk:
Research:&&&
Props:
Costuming: "
Difficulty: ®®
This is an easy costume and a character as simple or complex, as
retiring or outgoing as you want to make him. The dissolution of the
Catholic Church under Henry VIII in England sent a large number of the
poorer churchmen on the road to pursue an itinerant lifestyle outside
of their homeland. Scotland, still officially a Catholic kingdom, drew
a lot of Northern England’s Catholics across the border (those that
survived the purges, of course). An itinerant monk is a perfectly
acceptable character, and even more fun to play when there are puritans
around to pick on (or be picked on by).
Painter:
Research:&&&
Props:
Costuming: ""
Difficulty: ®®®®®
Just as with many of the other roles that involve arts and crafts,
this is a great role to assume if you already know how to paint.
Contrary to the image conjured by names like Leonardo and Michelangelo
the average painter in the renaissance paid for his bread by painting
frescos on church walls and coats of arms on wall hangings. Then, as
now, for every one successful artist, there were two hundred that lived
hand to mouth. If you already have some painting skill, then the
research would then be teaching yourself to paint in a period style
(which was relatively simple compared to some of the more modern
methods out there). One would think that with the large number of art
students drawn to this pastime, there would be plenty of painters
around, but in fact this is a rare thing to see outside of a vendor’s
booth. If you don’t know how to paint… most community colleges offer
classes.
Peddler:
Research:&&
Props:
Costuming: ""
Difficulty: ®®®®
Outgoing, a little coarse, sort of smarmy, the peddler was a constant
figure in rural villages from the dark ages through the dawn of the
Industrial Revolution and beyond. Often the only source of
“unofficial” news from the lands beyond the horizon, the peddler always
made a stir when he came to the village. A big burlap sack stuffed
full of random junk is all you need beyond basic garb. Try to get
people to buy it by spinning a yarn about how it was sold to you by a
down and out prince so-and-so in Byzantium. This scarf is tattered
because it came from the brow of the Pope’s wife, etcetera. Much like
a pawnbroker, this could be the perfect role for someone capable of
spinning a tall tale with a straight face. Not a role for the meek to
undertake.
Potter:
Research:&&&
Props:
Costuming: ""
Difficulty: ®®®®
Bring clay, make pinch pots, the guild doesn’t have a kiln to fire them
in (yet), but if you have one at home or access to one at a community
center or school, so much the better to add to the realism of the
village! A skilled position, but making pinch pots is something they
teach little kids, so how hard can it be to learn the rudiments? As
with all things, mastery comes with time, and enthusiasm is rewarded.
Prostitute:
Research:&&
Props: (just what God gave ye, lass…)
Costuming: "" (ditto)
Difficulty: ®®®®
That’s “Soiled Dove” to you lovey. Need I really explain this one?
This is obviously a very period role to play. Outside of the alehouse,
try to keep it to mild innuendo, though, this is a family show after
all.
Quarryman/Stonecutter:
Research:&&&&
Props:
Costuming: ""
Difficulty: ®®®®
(See miner)
Rat Catcher
Research:&
Props:
Costuming: """
Difficulty: ®®®®
As with so many fun characters, this one requires a deft touch in order
to have fun with it without alarming and/or scaring away the patrons.
If someone has a pet rat, it would be a good opportunity to get him out
of the house and introduce him around. A suitably disreputable-looking
interpretation of this character would be great fun, tromping about the
shire, offering to get rid of the rats which are plaguing (no pun
intended) the patrons. “Got Rats miss? I can get rid of them for you,
for a fee…”
Scholar:
Research:&&&&&
Props:
Costuming: ""
Difficulty: ®®®®
It is a myth that Scholars were all wealthy men. Oft times a wealthy
man’s son wasn’t necessarily guaranteed to inherit, the third and
fourth son often received very little from the father, in fact, and
often sought their own fortunes through military or ecclesiastical
service. A good role to undertake if your leanings are of a scholarly
bent anyway. This role could run anywhere from the doleful poet to the
nutty professori.
Scribe:
Research:&&&&
Props:
Costuming: ""
Difficulty: ®®®®
Also called a “Scrivener”. With the advent of Gutenberg’s movable-type
press, Scribes were less in demand for the production of books. Most
Scribes earned their daily bread writing or reading letters for the
illiterate. A lot of folks have a working-knowledge of calligraphy,
which is all you really need to begin with.
Seamstress/Tailor:
Research:&&&
Props:
Costuming: """"
Difficulty: ®®®
The best-dressed peasant in the shire. Neat but not too expensive, we
must display our skills without rising about our station, mustn’t we?
This is one more chance for the needle-talented to show your stuff.
Not only would you have carte blanche to work on your garb during faire
(perhaps you’re doing a middle class character next year or at another
faire) and also an opportunity to talk to patrons and others about the
construction of garb without breaking character.
Shepherd:
Research:&&
Props: (or with sheep)
Costuming: ""
Difficulty: ®®®
In the past, we have had people bring well-behaved sheep to faire and
wander around with them. Sheep on the whole are pretty docile and this
is fine as long as faire management signs off on it. That being said,
one of the best ongoing gigs our guild has seen in recent years is the
shepherdess who has lost her sheep and come to town trying to find
them. There’s plenty of potential for a shepherd character, this is
Scotland, after all.
Storyteller:
Research:&&&&&
Props:
Costuming: ""
Difficulty: ®®®®®
Do you like fairy tales? Are you the sort who can enthrall a crowd of
kids and adults with the power of your voice? This is a great role to
play if that’s your thing. There are a few folks out there wandering
the faire circuit who do this for a living, namely “James the Obscure”
and the like. As with any enterprise, it is advisable to find out what
the other guys are doing so you can find a niche to fill that doesn’t
already have a resident. Master The Obscure, for instance, specializes
in telling tales from the old Norse edda, so another such storyteller
is not needed. Instead a teller of fairy tales, or a purveyor of
Aesop’s fables would be welcome.
Thatcher
Research:&&&&
Props:
Costuming: ""
Difficulty: ®®®®®
Roofs were thatched rather than tiled in all but the most
prosperous villages. Carry around a few cutting tools, some big skeins
of twine, and a large bundle of straw or reeds. Walk around offering
to thatch the patron’s hovels. Tsk sadly at the quality of the work
you see around the shire, or the woeful quantity of tents where a good
solid thatched roof would suit so much better.
Tinker:
Research:&&
Props:
Costuming: ""
Difficulty: ®®
Like a Peddler, the Tinker wanders the trade routes, going from village
to village as a freelance handyman, mostly repairing kettles, pots and
various home implements.
Weaver
Research:&&&&&
Props:
Costuming: """""
Difficulty: ®®®®®
If you know how to weave and have a portable loom handy, this is a
wondrous character for sitting in one place and getting patrons to walk
up and strike up conversations with you.