An Incomplete and General Faire Update.

Well, it's been almost a full month since the last time I had a chance to update so, no doubt, some things will fall into the vague ether of my memory. Hopefully you all had a great time over the last month but for reasons not dissimilar to the ones which kept me from posting I have not been able to keep up with everyone else's.

The end of the season was excellent. I realised that I had been falling back on some of the same tendencies I had displayed in Frobisher's weakest bits and managed to pull myself back into Bernard for the last few weekends. It was rewarding since the patrons immediately returned to loving Bernard. HE was a sweet character and I got caught up in making him big. Calming down and letting him be smaller was infinitely more rewarding.

Unfortunately I didn't get to interact with a lot of my fellows over the season. I say unfortunately because I heard some amazing things about their bits. Everyone I did see was incredible. I Think this year's cast has been amazingly strong and the results of our good choices manifested in a more varied and compelling ensemble than we've had for a long time. Of course all of the returning cast members have continued in the high caliber of performance which we have come to expect at Bristol. What was truly impressive was the amzing rookies. Across the board this year's newcomers have proven to be both some great friends and some truly incredible performers. I found the cast at large to be tenfold more open and accessible this year. My change of guilde likely had a lot to do with that but I also think that this year's incoming cast had much to do with adjusting the alchemy of our show.

I especially liked interacting with Rachel and Kel. Since we were all of the same station we had a certain camaraderie. We also had developed relationships (Winifred and Bess were cousins) which made us a great team. Reveling in being simple country folk was great fun and I'm glad I had two such talented performers to share it with.

Rachel and I, of course, developed a pretty good relationship. Since we go to meet in the pre season, even before BAPA began I got the special opportunity to attempt to introduce her gently into the sea of madness she was to encounter. Her season must have been quite the trip. To spend the pre-season coming to grip with this new paradigm and then to be thrown a curve ball like playing the queen she certainly surprised me with her resilience and professionalism. If there is one thing to say of Rachel it is that through it all she is a consummate professional. I wish I could master myself enough to conduct myself even half as well as she does.

I also particularly enjoyed interacting with Arne. I've had the pleasure of working with minds like Arne's only a few times in my life. Once he realizes the full scope of his powers God help us all. Such cleverness and originality is rare, exceptionally so.

Everyone in this year's fight cast has been amazing. Sadly, I did not get to play with many of the bad guys save through the Improvables or Twelfth Night. What I have seen though was encouraging. It is nice to see such a talented class coming in and I very much look forward to seeing where they all go from here. For those of you uninvolved with Faire we had a very different fight cast configuration this year. We always team the sheriff up with a new group of bad guys but this year the team was an international foursome of smuggler women. I rarely got to play with them but watching their work was refreshing. The season also brought Josh, the Sheriff's enforcer and Patrick, the sheriff's secretary. Altogether the bad guys were pretty much awesome and all new save Jimmy. I enjoyed very much seeing a bad guy crew with depth and a premise based on more than "they're evil [insert group here]".

One of the people I made the best connection with this year is Angela. She played The Baker's Wife for the first few weeks and we really had a good time with the characters even off the stage. Afterward we continued to hang out backstage and I spotted for her a few times when she played the giant marionette. It proved to be a great bit for Bernard to stand in slack jawed awe of the puppet and I helped them stay safe. Angela is such a clever and fun loving individual I cannot even begin to tell you about the lengths of her skillfulness. Suffice to say that when presented with the idea of returning to KK The concept of doing it alongside Angala made the idea sound actually attractive. For those of you who know how I feel about working with children this should demonstrate to you how fun it is to work with and spend time with Angela.

It's working with people like these that make the faire so very addictive. As if it weren't enough to work at quite possibly the finest faire of it's type and size to be surrounded by such exuberant, effulgent and loving people makes the time spent at Bristol the finest I could ask for. I am reminded once again that my highest highs and lowest lows occur during the faire season.

This season has been no exception. I have once again hurt more than I knew I could hurt and found heretofore unknown heights of joy as well. As per usual I have yearned fruitlessly and missed chances. As usual I have found that through being myself my finest talents manifest and by allowing myself to step outside of boundaries I can reap the greatest of rewards. This season saw me taking on six roles in four shows (the faire as a whole being top among them). I feel blessed for the chances which led me to be a part of these wonderful casts.