PA Renaissance Faire - Whose Jest Is It Anyway?

To round out this week of Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire Festivities, I am going to leave you with one of the funniest stage shows my family has seen. Due to scheduling, we were not able to catch their show this season but we are hoping that the Faire schedule will allow us to see them next season. 

"Whose Jest Is It Anyway?" is a Ren Faire take on the popular television show "Whose Line Is It Anyway?" Much like the TV show, the stage show has different improvisational games the actors play. Some of them involve songs, some of them don't. One of them involves actors sticking their heads in a barrel of water while the others chat amongst themselves. It really is quite hysterical.

Unlike the other acts I have blogged about this week, Whose Jest is made up entirely of a segment of PA Ren Faire cast members called Blackfryars.  The show is one-of-a-kind. You won't find anything like it at any other Renaissance fair or festival. It's a must see! 

PA Renaissance Faire - The Mud Squad

Another one of our favorite acts from the Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire is The Mud Squad.  Unfortunately, I don't have a ton of pictures of their show. You can see more pictures of them on their Facebook page. 

The Mud Squad is a trio of comedians. The current line-up features Ploppy (who is in the picture above), Snarfy, and Oozie. (A previous version of the line-up featured Skeeter. However, Skeeter is now performing in Orlando so Oozie returned to the PA Ren Faire.) Every Faire day, the three mud-covered goofballs perform three different shows. I'm not sure if the shows are different every year but this year's shows are Mudpit of the Ape, Rumpelstiltskin, and Ploppy's Hot Date. The show we saw this past weekend was Mudpit of the Ape.

As you can see from the picture above, it is difficult to get a good picture of the mudpit when there is an audience. The mudpit is at the bottom of a slight slope, which makes it a little difficult to see what is going on when the actors are actually in the mud. In the background, the little hut is where the actors put on costumes and hide their props. The hut is raised off the ground a bit, making that the best place to see the actors in action. Unfortunately, they spend most of their time in front of the mudpit. You could move down to the front rows of the audience, if you don't mind getting splashed with mud occasionally. 

The three shows are quite funny. In Mudpit of the Ape, Snarfy is telling the story of his summer vacation. He went to a tropical island where he met a beautiful island woman, played by Ploppy. This woman is also the only virgin on the island. Unfortunately, her people are being plagued by a large monkey, played by Oozie. Snarfy fights the monkey and ends up face-down in the mud pit. The monkey kidnaps the island woman, prompting Snarfy to save her. Of course, the day is saved....only after they all end up in the mud. It is a mud show, after all!

If you find yourself with nothing to do a 12, 2, or 4 and you are at the Ren Faire, head on over to the mud pit. If you prefer the risque type of humor, Ploppy also performs an adult-oriented show with Looney Lucy. People with kids should stick with The Mud Squad instead. It is (slightly) dirty fun for the whole family!

PA Renaissance Faire - Circus Stella

Circus Stella is one of those acts that has managed to fly under our Renaissance Faire radar. While we were told that we had to check them out, their shows were always scheduled against other shows we wanted to see. This past weekend, we decided to skip one of Fool Hearty's shows in order to catch Circus Stella. I am so glad we did.

Circus Stella is another husband and wife act. Dextre Tripp handles the juggling, ladder balancing, and rope walking portions of the show. Jayna Lee, on the other hand, does the prettier parts. She does aerial stunts with both the trapeze and aerial silks. On top of that, their rescue dogs are part of the show too! (They actually named their show after one of the dogs, Stella.) 

In Dextre's parts of the show, he does a lot of crowd-work. In the show we watched, he had two children from the audience help him. One climbed up a ladder Dextre was balancing in order to bring him a dropped hat. The other, as you can see in the picture, sat on his shoulders while he rode a unicycle across the stage. Those kids were super brave. I don't know that I would have the guts to do either of those. 

We did get to see one of the best parts of Dextre's on-stage presence. He originally brought a different girl onto the stage for the unicycle bit. However, once she got on his shoulders, she freaked out a little. Instead of abandoning the bit, he simply put Girl #1 down, thanked her, and chose a different girl. I appreciated Dextre's concern for the girl and his willingness to continue the show. 

First off, I'd like to say that I wish I had better pictures of Jayna's act. My husband's camera didn't want to give her any love that day. Jayna started out on a trapeze, which was lovely, but my favorite part was the aerial silk. She looked so beautiful and so elegant with them. Even if you don't see them for the other parts (which you should), definitely check them out for Jayna's silk routine. Just gorgeous.

Then there are the dogs. The dog part of the show was very funny. I think we saw three dogs on Saturday. I'm not positive. I was too busy having a good time to count them. Anyway, some of the dogs did their own "tightrope walking" over some wooden boards. In this picture, you can see Stella doing her trick with Adrian. First Stella jumps over Adrian, then she crawls underneath. It is quite funny to see in person. 

When we were at the Faire on Saturday, the weather was not completely cooperative. There were wind gusts and some spitting rain throughout the day. Circus Stella changed their act around a little bit to accommodate the weather so some things were a little off but, honestly, I wouldn't have noticed if they hadn't said something about it during the show. If you get a chance to see them perform, check them out. You will not regret it. I even purchased a DVD so I can watch them in the off-season!

PA Renaissance Faire - Fool Hearty

As I have said a number of times, my family spends a lot of time at the Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire. While we didn't attend as frequently this year as we have in the past, we did see some new shows and meet some new friends. Every day this week, I will be featuring some of our favorite acts from the PA Ren Faire. The Faire ends next weekend but it is possible that you could see some of these acts are other Renaissance fairs or festivals. 

First up, Fool Hearty! 

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Fool Hearty is a husband and wife duo. As Marquise and Ima Nutte, they perform three different shows every day. There is a magic show, Fool School, and an untrained dog show. In addition, Marquise leads many of the parades that take place during the day. When they are not on stage performing, they are wandering around the Shire making everyone around them smile.

The Fool Hearty magic show is best for smaller children. Marquise handles most of the magic tricks while Ima Nutte plays his beautiful assistant. During the show, they bring two children (usually one boy and one girl) on stage as helpers. The boy helps during the rope trick and the girl helps during the paper trick. Even though I have seen their magic show dozens of times, I still can't figure out how they do it. 

Fool School is where the families get to make fun of Daddy. Ima picks a man out of the audience for them to turn into a fool. The audience member gets a new costume and a new name. Then there is some juggling and some pictures and a graduation ceremony. Trust me when I say that this is a funny show, especially when the new fool jokes back with Marquise and Ima. 

Fool Hearty's big show of the day is the Untrained Dog Show. The couple owns four dogs total but only two of the border collies are currently in the act. Originally, the main star was Blockhead, who definitely knew how to work the crows. However, he has recently retired. In his place, both Polka Dot and Wing Nutte have stepped up their games. This is, most definitely, my favorite show at the Ren Faire. I highly recommend that you check it out, if you can. 

No matter how often you see a Fool Hearty show, you always walk away with a smile on your face. Not only are Marquise and Ima very funny people, they are also very approachable and friendly. If you see them walking around, please say hello or give them a hug. They love you as much as you love them.