I'm sorry that, for about the 3rd year in a row, I'm going to miss the Maryland Renaissance Fair. You just need to know what to expect---and it's not authenticity--and you will likely have a great time.   My destination when I do go is "Shakespeare's Skum".   Shamelessly vaudevillian sendup of Shakespeare,, complete with cheerful anachronisms which seem to fit perfectly. Example:    character has just been skewered by his opponent.   While staggering around he declaims: "Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away" and expires.

I used to be part of a madrigal group which sang at the Fair. And I used to get bent out of shape when our leader suggested doing a 19th century madrigal. But if I'd really been honestly concerned about real historical accuracy, we could have done none of our material except the Agincourt Carol--that at least was old enough.   Virtually always the Fair would be centered around Henry Vlll's court in some way--a problem when doing Dowland or Morley for instance--neither of whom would have been born yet. Even Lassus would have been about 13 or so.

But I still love to hear madrigals sung by a good group in what seems to me relatively faithful garb and in a sylvan setting. It does let the imagination roam.

I remember asking some high school singers if they had any idea what they were really singing when doing "Matona, mia cara" in the fractured Italian--not even close to the bowdlerized translation in the "Gray Book". Of course they did not know.

And I strongly second the vote in favor of the bodices--or as Jan puts it, the dumplings boiling over.




Though I admit that if I were to hear about a Renaissance fair in the UK, I'd expect much more fidelity to the period than you ever get in the US.   It does seem that if you are close to where that history took place, more accuracy is called for.

Though Mormons evidently believe that Jesus visited the Western Hemisphere after his resurrection, as far as I know Henry Vlll has not been seen here.