Tudor Time Travel The Northwest Renaissance Festival Takes Visitors Back To 16th-Century England

The Northwest Renaissance Festival has been jousting away for three straight summers at a wooded site near Tum Tum, so last weekend I finally decided it was time to exit the 20th century and pay a visit to the 16th.

I was curious: What was England like in 1528?

If this festival is any indication, it was a surprisingly merry place.

The Northwest Renaissance Festival is, in essence, an eight-hour-long piece of theater, and not a bad one at that. It begins at 11 a.m. with a royal procession as King Henry VIII arrives at the village of Pleasance, and ends at about 7 p.m., following the climactic joust at 6 p.m.

I went not just to immerse myself in Tudor England, but to see how this Festival has endured in the face of daunting logistical demands (it covers 20 acres and has 60 costumed performers) and a relatively low profile (a lot of people don’t know it exists).

So I was expecting something low-budget when I first walked in, and, in fact, the make-believe village of Pleasance resembles a campsite more than a town. Rough-hewn booths and log benches are the order of the day. However, I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the costumes, which are first-rate and authentic down to the details, from the veil down to the mail (chain).

With the performers outnumbering the spectators, at least early in the day, we got plenty of personalized service. As soon as we walked in, we were escorted by two members of the infamous Gypsies of Pleasance up a dusty path to the Cowgate Stage (there are three stages) where the King’s Court had just been called into session. There, Henry VIII (played by Brian Thornton) was hearing the grievances and the petitions of his subjects.

There was an acrimonious dispute between two knights over a lady. There was a young messenger hauled before the court for stealing a purse. There was a dashing shipmaster, Sir Lazloe Baldrick, begging the king for a new ship.

Throughout all of this, the Gypsies and townspeople stood in back and kept up a running commentary. After every wise ruling by Henry, the cry went up, “Huzzah for the king’s justice!”

You’ve never heard so many huzzahs in your life.

A different activity is scheduled every half-hour (storytelling, magic shows, plays, sword fights, a living chess match) and I was impressed by the lack of dead time throughout was usually only about five or 10 minutes until the next one.

Of course, only the true die-hards will stay for the entire eight hours, following the plots and sub-plots from beginning to end (will the hotheaded Sir John Marshall win his betrothed?).

On a 90-degree-plus day, four hours was more than enough for me. Still, I found it easy to follow the stories with a little help from the detailed program.

Since almost all of the performers are volunteers, the acting tends to be a bit amateurish. Cues aren’t picked up quickly. There are many awkward pauses. A number of actors need to learn to project more forcefully.

Still, the accents are surprisingly good - better than many of the ones I hear on more conventional stages. The accents and some of the banter suggest that many of these actors have seen “Monty Python and the Holy Grail” even more times than I have.

I was impressed with how gracefully the performers included the audience in this fantasy (they say, “Good day, M’Lord and M’Lady” when they pass customers on the paths). I was just as impressed by the fact that they weren’t pushy about it.

And I found myself enjoying some of the performers immensely. My favorite was the Pickle Man (uncredited in the program) who wandered the site pushing an old wooden cart and selling pickles for 50 cents each. He was always clowning around, offering his “dragon’s toes” for sale, and making mischief. Once he threatened to attack a brave knight. The brave knight was then forced to make this undignified complaint to the king: “He tried to pull his pickle on me!”

The knightly games were among the highlights of the day, held in a rough arena dubbed the Royal Lists. There, a number of knights engaged in armor-clanking fights with broadswords. Even King Henry VIII and the visiting King James V of Scotland participated. When all of the clanking and parrying and smiting were over, King Henry VIII stood victorious.

“Huzzah for King Henry!” shouted the villagers, although one added under her breath, “I think it was rigged.”

Much of the day is spent in quieter pursuits. For instance, Matthew Van Zee staged a show of magic, helped along by his tiny helper, a “brownie” named Hannah.

“In years hence, they will call this ‘the oldest trick in the book,”’ said Van Zee, brandishing a deck of cards. “I know they will, because I am writing the book and this will be the first trick in it.”

I got hungry about midafternoon and headed over to the food booth. The food is not necessarily Renaissance-themed, which may be just as well. It consists of things like chicken sandwiches and sausage sandwiches, with cans of soda pop to wash it down.

The Whitethorn Inn, actually just a small enclosure, sells beer and ale to those of age. A guitar and vocal duo sings folk songs.

A hat is passed after most of the stage shows and other performances, and I heard some grumbling in the audience about this. We’d already paid $9.50 each; why should we be asked to part with more?

This is a legitimate gripe. Nobody wants to get hit up again and again.

However, the passed hat is the only way most of these performers are ever going to make a dime out of running around all day in hot leather and armor. Think of it as a tip.

At one time, director Tienne Rogers hoped to have 1,000 spectators a day pouring into this site, which is about 20 miles northwest of Spokane. It hasn’t turned out that way - there couldn’t have been more than 100 or 200 the day we were there. That’s enough for the festival to survive, but not enough to pay everyone. So the performers show up week after week because they love it.

A few warnings for those planning to make this journey back into the past. The privies are nearly as primitive as the 1528 varieties. They are Porta-Potties.

The site can get hot during a summer afternoon in the 90s. Still, since the site is lightly wooded, it’s easy to find shade. I felt sorrier for the performers in armored helmets than I did for the spectators.

And finally, you have to be in the right frame of mind to enjoy the Northwest Renaissance Festival. They supply the plot, the people in costume, and the activities. It’s up to you to provide the imagination.

If you can’t play make-believe well enough to imagine that you really are in the village of Pleasance in 1528, then you’re in for a long day indeed.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: 3 Color Photos

MEMO: These sidebars appeared with the story: If you go The Northwest Renaissance Festival, every Saturday and Sunday, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., through Aug. 24, Nine Mile Falls Road (SR 291), between mile markers 18 and 19. Admission $9.50 for adults, $5 for seniors over 60 and for children age 6-12. Free for children 5 and under. Key times 11 a.m., Royal Procession. Noon, Gypsy Games on Horseback. 1:30 p.m., the Kings Court. 2:30 p.m., the Knightly Games. 4 p.m., the Live Chess Match. 6 p.m., the Joust.