The Red Ribbon, Earring, and Shell Necklace.

The Red Ribbon, Earring, and Shell Necklace.

“What have you got there Andrew?” John piped up from across the galley. Anne tried to stash the earing she’d been gazing at, but Captain Frobisher’s hand caught her wrist before she could hide the bauble.

“Ah-ha!” Captain Frobisher laughed, “I knew you had a girl somewhere, Andrew!”

Anne’s brain raced, “It’s nothing sir.” She tried to twist her arm away but Captain Frobisher plucked the earing out of her hand and held it up to the lamplight.

“This is quite the pretty piece. Who’d it belong to?” While the rest of the crew knew of Anne’s disguise, the captain was still blind and Anne preferred to keep it that way.  Whether through brotherly friendship or bullying she had gotten the crew on her side, but she hardly knew how Frobisher would react to finding out that his ship’s boy and protégé was a lass. 

“A girl back home. We’re promised to each other.” Anne supplied quickly, hoping that it would shut the captain up. The Captain handed the earing back to her. “I don’t think she’ll wait around long, might even be married by the time we get back, she is a few years older than me.” Anne heard a few of the men snicker and she gave them a vicious glare, which only made them chuckle more.

“An older woman?” The Captain roared with laughter.  “You’ll learn Andrew,” Captain Frobisher swung an arm around Anne’s shoulders, “women are as changeable as the tides and plentiful as the fish in the sea. We’ll just find you another one, won’t we men?” The crew gave a resounding assortment of cheers and laughter.

“Sir, I’m only sixteen! I went to sea to get away from women!” Anne protested, only making her situation worse. “I appreciate the offer captain, but-“

Frobisher waved Anne’s pleas away with a punch to her shoulder, “No buts Andrew! When we dock in Bristol the first order of business is to find you a buxom lass to have some fun with.”

“As you wish Captain.” Anne rolled her eyes and ducked out from the galley and scurried away to her hammock. It seemed funny to her how she’d grown up around men all her life, and yet she had barely known anything about men until she had signed on with a crew of them. Once there she pulled out the earing again and looked over the small metal hoop with the glass bead embedded inside. It had been one of her mother’s things, a mismatched earing that Anne had played with since she’d been young. It had been a bracelet until Anne’s wrist had grown too large for the opening. It was the only thing she carried of her mother.

Anne’s hand found the shell that hung from a string around her neck and she gave the good luck charm a small squeeze. Once again she’d just barely escaped another awkward situation with the Captain and crew. Captain Frobisher was mostly bluff and blunder anyway.

“You all right lass?” John’s head peeked over the edge of Anne’s hammock and she nodded. “Whose earring is it?”

“Mine. Same as the ribbon.” Anne stashed the earing and rolled out of her hammock. “Does the captain need me?”

“We’ve got watch now, c’mon.” John patted Anne on the shoulder and the two of them headed up to scan the horizon. 

Look for the last installment of "Anne's Clothes" tomorrow- The Shirt. Hope you have enjoyed reading these little stories, if you've missed any just look for the tag "Anne's Clothes" to find the rest of them! 

The Knife and The Belay Pin, the Pouch, and the Journal and Pencil

Today's first post reviews how Anne got a hold of that knife you see her wearing. Look for the post later tonight (I think around 9pm) about various little trinkets that Anne carries. These two posts are pretty short so I thought that they'd make a good single post length.

The Knife

            “You’ve got a knife, lad?” The boatswain, John, asked. Anne’s hand went to her belt and nodded, feeling the wooden handle in her palm. “Let’s see you use it then." Anne drew her blade and sawed away at the rope John had told her to cut.  “Where’d you get it?”

“Someone threw it into a wall.” Anne summarized as she drew her arm back and forth. It wasn’t a lie, the knife had been thrown, probably by a drunk thug, and had stuck in the wall of the inn she stayed at the night before. When no one came running after it, Anne pulled it out of the framework and made it her own. “Will it do?”

“It’ll do quite well, I think.” John caught the two pieces of rope and Anne stashed the knife back in her belt. The boatswain noted the ribbon that the cabin lad secured his new weapon with. “Got a girl back home, then?”

“What?” Anne looked at the boatswain with alarmed eyes and looked back at her knife. “Oh…erm…aye.” She lied, hoping that no one would question her too much about the few baubles she carried.

The Belay Pin, the Pouch, and the Journal and Pencil

Captain Frobisher’s papers were a mess. How the man had managed to keep the ship running with everything out of order, Anne couldn't fathom. She spent a good hour just putting everything in order and another two hours deciphering the captain’s haphazard scrawl and spelling. Everything needed to be re-logged into the leather bound journal she had found at the bottom of the writing desk. Captain Frobisher, while an accomplished sailor to say the least, was absolute rubbish when it came to keeping track in documentation.

A severe hand cramp caused Anne to put a pause in her copy work. She folded the page she had stopped writing at. Carefully she slid the journal and pencil into the pouch Stretch the sail maker had helped her to sew out of some old clothes. It wasn't as if Anne didn't already know how to sew, but if she was going to try and act like a boy she wanted to at least seem ignorant of sewing. 

The sound of the boatswain’s whistle “all hands on deck” resounded round the ship and sent Anne running out of the captain’s room. Before Anne knew it the crew where all rushing at her and she leap up among the rigging, not stopping her climb until she reached the crow's nest. She didn't come down until the men promised not to haze her any more and went back about their work.

No one noticed that during the next week they were short one belaying pin, or if anyone did notice the appearance of the new item on “Andrew’s” belt, none of the sailors said anything. Even if she did have a knife, Anne felt it was better to be safe than sorry.

Come back around 9pm!

The Last Weekend without Patrons

This post is going to be a little bit different. I'm going to lump the two days into one. Why? Because I'm the author and I can.


Saturday- The Last Day of BAPA

To be honest it wasn't the most eventful week. I still had tons of fun and did a lot with my character. One of the Fools and I came up with a bit where he calls me out as a girl and we have to drag a patron in to help me discourage him. He is one of two people who are actually allowed to call me "Anne" without getting socked (or a very dirty look). I did have to make it known that people need to call me "Andrew" or I might not play with them. Most likely I will respond that I do not know their "Anne" but they might address me as "Master Andrew."
My electives on Saturday were phenomenal. My first class was taught by the director of the BRF Fight Cast and he also plays Robin Hood. He's a really cool person and I loved what he had to say about simply making a personal connection with a patron that wasn't apart of a big "bit." I'm really looking forward to having those "small moments" with patrons where I just get to talk to them. I'm looking forward to the big/funny stuff too, but those genuine moments are what people remember for years.
My second elective was about Elizabethan Maritime history. It was taught by the man who plays Sir Francis Drake. It was one of the best history classes I have taken. He was really hilarious to listen to and even though I was pretty tired, I was avidly listening. Plus, I got to try hardtack! It's not that bad once you get used to kind of gnawing at it for half an hour.
After BAPA ended and we all had a mock-cry, the cast of Ren Quest held a BBQ for everyone and I got to hang with a bunch of the cast and just have a good time. We did some improv and I got to go up once (there were SO MANY PEOPLE), and it was a lot of fun. 



SUNDAY- DRESS REHEARSAL!!!!

Sunday was oodles of good times. This past Thursday I got a taste of working with patrons when I went to the train station downtown and passed out fliers with some of the cast (Captain Frobie included) and it was great to get a sense of working with the Catpain and sort-of-kind-of "patrons" (aka- the commuters).
So when Sunday rolled around I loved having one last chance to just play with the other characters, at the same time, I really really really can't wait to talk to patrons.
Wearing my costume wasn't that bad. It was hot, but when you're doing things in costume you don't think about it too much. I love my costume. I love my hat, my shirt, my pants, my doublet, I especially love my belt with everything hanging on it. 
We started out with playing Hot Seat and I got to go up twice. Once with my shipmates, and once with Captain Frobie. It went ok, I've had better Hot Seats, I think I would consider it a warm up more than anything.
Then when Dog and Pony went up with their Muppet-like puppets, I started freaking out because they are SO FLIPPING COOL! I will start wigging out whenever they come near me. Everyone thinks it's really hilarious.
The next super-duper (trying not to use the word "awesome") part of the day was when we split up into our groups and walked around the site. The Captain showed me a map that he drew of the "new world." It's really funny. Kind of one of those things you just have to see or ask me to explain in person. After looking at the map we started our "walk about" and wandered all over the site as Captain Frobie told me which places were good to interact with people in, which shops like the performers (and which ones don't), and just general Faire-things-I-should-know. We ran into a couple characters and got to try out some interactions. The more I work with these people, the more comfortable in my character I get. There's only so much you can do on your own before you need to just start working through things with the people you run into.
I also got to try some of the famously good soup from the Dirty Duck Inn. It's amazing. I'm so glad I get to eat there all summer!
After lunch we had full cast rehearsal for Opening Gate, Closing Gate, and Parade. Mostly there was a lot of joking around while waiting to rehearse Closing Gate. Lots of teasing and general good natured fun.
The next thing that I'll mention is that after our official rehearsal was over I got to hang with some of the women in our cast. These women are so much fun to talk with. One of them told me that I am a "Find." I think the best translation is that I'm of value to the group. I got so many compliments from people yesterday and I was overwhelmed by the support that I've received.

My favorite part of the day is actually my change in backstory. Mwahahaha- the elusive and not often used backstory. I didn't come up with this new story, but my friends Captains Hawkins and Frobisher did.
Apparently Anne is the daughter of a woman known as "Easy Fanny." She has 5 or 6 possible fathers, but she does know that he was a famous Captain. This means that it could be Drake, Hawkins, Frobisher, Wynter, De Goiti, or possibly one or two others. I've been giggling about this since lunchtime yesterday. I like it a lot better than my old backstory and it's a lot simpler to explain! 


So concludes my last post about rehearsals and BAPA. I honestly don't know what posts will look like from here on out. I'll try and post about each weekend, but I can't guarantee anything. I'm going to miss telling a lot, simply because I can't tell everything- there's too much to tell! 


Here's to getting ready for patrons!!! Please come and play with me! Anne will be ever so happy!

BAPA week 4

I am a bad, bad, bad little author.

I'm so sorry for keeping this post from everyone! In truth, this weekend was very busy and VERY tiring and I've only just found the time to actually post these things today. I've been running around for two days making stuff for the faire (a pouch and belt mug holder thingy), and somehow the internet was just not on my priorities.

Now to tell all that happened on Saturday!

First of all, we met in a different place than normal and I almost got the stages mixed up. Newbie moment! Note to self- the GLOBE STAGE is not the one with the seven deadly sins painted on the back, that's the Lord Mayor's stage (I think, not 100% sure).

Week 4 of BAPA saw me in group 4 with all the other Uppper Dialect people, along with our Italians from the Comedia Del'Atre troupe. They are FANTASTIC and please play with them when you come up and see us. They make me laugh all day long.

We had our movement class first and went over introductions with a specific movement that people would recognize. I strike a semi-manly pose and look around knowingly. Apparently I did that look around thing without trying and the teacher loved it, so I'm keeping it!
Movement class was fun this week because we learned about how different points of our bodies can be "headlights" that direct attention and we learned how to use them. We can focus all of our attention on one particular person, or direct our headlights to shine attention on everyone (relatively speaking).

After movement came dialect where we translated our various breakfasts into Elizabethan English. I had eaten sausage on an English muffin, so that wasn't hard to translate, but some people came up with the BEST STUFF. Imagine translating Lucky Charms Cereal into Elizabethan English. I was almost crying from laughter at some of the elaborations people came up with.

At lunch the Dirty Duck Inn was having a sale on some lightly used objects and I bought a mug for $10!!!!!!!!!! Btw- that's a very very VERY reasonable price for a mug that I know I'll be able to drink out of. I've had trouble finding anything that's durable enough that doesn't have lead content. Now I don't need to worry about that anymore!

After lunch came Street (aka- Improv). We did a LOT of status/dominance work. It was a lot of fun. I think for almost all of the games we did each person would get a card from a deck of cards and would hold up the card to their forehead and guess how "high up" they were bases on other people's reactions. If you were a King, everyone loved you. If you were a 2, well, better luck next time.

Characterization was a big character interview session. Different characters came up and were asked questions about themselves and it was interesting to see how other people's characters were coming through.

My two elective classes were pretty good. I had Character Class Interactions, which essentially was a lot more of the status/dominance thing, but I feel like I've hammered that concept into myself and my character and I've got a decent grasp on it.
Sea Shanties was a little disappointing because I knew most of the songs, but it was fun to sing them with everyone! I really do love sea shanties. I got my carpool to sing them on the way home on Sunday. :)

That is most of what happened on Saturday. Well, anything worth noting anyway. Thanks for waiting for the post!

Rehearsal week 2

Also Known As- I GET MY COSTUME!!!

And learn a lot about my character and where I stand in the social vs dominance areas.

To give a more blow by blow approach....

Got to site around 9:15 when I needed to be at rehearsal by 10. To be honest I like being early. People are there and I can get to know my castmates better because everyone pretty much scoots right after we end.

Today was hot. Really hot. Like I was wearing sunblock and my shoulders still got pink hot. Arg. But once again, today was pretty awesome.

To be honest, I didn't do much improvisation today. I should have volunteered more, but my head held me back a lot and I need to learn to just go for things and raise my hand. People will not judge me for making mistakes and the only thing that will happen is that I will learn what works and what doesn't. I think I might have participated in like two scenes today.
However, we did do a lot of stuff that does pertain to the improvisation we will be doing all day during Faire Days.

And the first thing I got that helps my character is....MY COSTUME!!!!
My costume is AWESOME! But I'm pretty sure I'd think any costume where I get to wear sweet looking Ren clothing is awesome.
I got to go with Captain Frobisher to the wonderful costume closet and have the head costumer start picking out things.
First came my pants, which the head costumer handed down to me and was a little skeptical about if they would fit or not. They did fit and they are AMAZING! Blue with burgundy and yellow striping on one leg. Apparently they belonged to Grace O'Malley one year, and I am very proud to be wearing them as another sailing lass.
Then the hat. I get the weirdest most fun hat ever. It's called the "question mark hat." You kind of just need to see it to understand it. It's brown with red trim and it has a tail like thing with a tassel on the end. It's awesome and I wore it all day. I love it. It also has bells on it that jingle when I shake my head. It makes me happy.
Then came finding the doublet. That was a bit of a trick. I think I tried on four or five of them. The one that the Captain was leaning towards was pretty cool looking, burgundy velvet like material. We would have had to take it in to have it fit me because most of the doublets are meant for men.
Most of them.
One doublet that I tried on was a from a character that Captain Frobie played some years back. It has a lot of stuff just sewn onto it and one thing was a hoop earring that is removable. Ansel said I could have it and I plucked it off and it is now on my awesome belt! 
We ended up finding this awesome black/grey/white one with ribbon ties that was meant for a woman playing a man. Well guess what? Another perfect fit. I swear this thing was made to fit me. Or many people of my size, but it happens that the amazing the head costumer picked it out and handed it down. It has a lot of ribbons knotting it together and there were some that were stuck. At first I couldn't get them out, but I managed by the end of the day to pry them apart. I have never met a knot I can't eventually untie.
I also get a very cool looking chemise (or shirt). But the whole experience was pretty darn magical for me.

So after I get my costume the rest of the Street Cast is playing a game that I have no idea what's going on and I just wait for the soon to come water break. We talked more about interaction and the very few but scary people that make us go get security. These things happen very rarely but they do happen....VERY RARELY.
The nice thing is that all of the guys in the cast are us girls' brothers. If someone is messing with us, we go get one of them and they will keep us safe until we can get to security and backstage. We all look out for each other.

Then I had lunch with the Captain of St. George (Queen's court) and I am now invited to hang out with them in the noble's glade. This is going to be very interesting because I am not noble and I am a girl wearing boys clothing. Seriously, everyone EXCEPT my captain can tell that I am a girl. This makes everything very interesting.

After lunch the whole cast went over the farewell songs and where to stand and such. It was fun because there was a sprinkler and I got to sit down. By this time of day I've walked a lot and my dogs are tired. My feet actually fared a lot better this week and I'm less tired than I was last week. Of course, we haven't hit Faire days yet.

We did this really cool thing with Street cast were all of us lined up according to our status. I was about four of five people from the highest person (that being Captain Frobisher). However, when we made a line according to dominance, I was third from last. Even though my station as a "cabin boy" is higher than almost everyone I give most people higher dominance.
Actually, I didn't know where to go so my director pushed me towards the end and said "You're all the way down that way." He was very helpful and I mean that with complete sincerity because I had no freaking idea where to go.
The reason for this is that I am a woman trying to hide my position aboard a ship of men.

This was pretty much the last thing we did before a few of us stayed behind to sing sea shanties.
I love sea shanties. First of all, the people I am singing with have amazing voices. I am awed to be singing with such talented people, and performing with them. I am going to learn so much this summer I think my head might explode!
I'll probably post more about shanties in my first full character post about Anne and what I have found out about her.

And now I bid you all good night and may God give you all good rest. I know I certainly need some for tomorrow.