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"Peasant" Occupations - Messenger through Weaver
Messenger:
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A medium-difficulty character for the actor just beginning to get their crowd nerves. A messenger is part crier and part herald without needing to be as loud and outgoing as either. This character carries messages from one person to the next, often with comic effect. Especially good if you want to play at being illiterate and try to memorize the message. Ever play 'telephone' when you were a kid? Also a good straight man for any gig. Hey, don’t kill the messenger!
Miner:
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Want to play a filthy character and not be a beggar? All you need is a set of garb made out of heavier-than-usual material (canvas), a mining implement, a hat with a candle melted on it, a bird cage and a lot of dirt on your clothes and your face. Could be a fun role for the correct person.
Minstrel:
Research:&&&&& (learning to play an instrument can take years!)
Props: (instruments can be expensive!)
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Do you play an instrument? Much like Actors, Acrobats, Fools and other entertainers mentioned herein itinerant Minstrels were not an uncommon sight in the 16th century. Like storytellers and street players (and more nefarious sorts), they wandered from market to market plying their trade. Check with the faire for the rules on busking (putting a hat down) before you do so, but otherwise, it is always good to have more music in the air at a faire. Just be mindful of the paid acts and don’t step on their shows with your free playing, and most of the musicians that play faires will be happy to talk shop with you between gigs or after hours during the jam sessions in the pub. Incidentally, this is a good way to try your hand at playing in front of a faire crowd if you think you might want to do it “for real” one day.
Monk:
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This is an easy costume and a character as simple or complex, as retiring or outgoing as you want to make him. The dissolution of the Catholic Church under Henry VIII in England sent a large number of the poorer churchmen on the road to pursue an itinerant lifestyle outside of their homeland. Scotland, still officially a Catholic kingdom, drew a lot of Northern England’s Catholics across the border (those that survived the purges, of course). An itinerant monk is a perfectly acceptable character, and even more fun to play when there are puritans around to pick on (or be picked on by).
Painter:
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Just as with many of the other roles that involve arts and crafts, this is a great role to assume if you already know how to paint. Contrary to the image conjured by names like Leonardo and Michelangelo the average painter in the renaissance paid for his bread by painting frescos on church walls and coats of arms on wall hangings. Then, as now, for every one successful artist, there were two hundred that lived hand to mouth. If you already have some painting skill, then the research would then be teaching yourself to paint in a period style (which was relatively simple compared to some of the more modern methods out there). One would think that with the large number of art students drawn to this pastime, there would be plenty of painters around, but in fact this is a rare thing to see outside of a vendor’s booth. If you don’t know how to paint… most community colleges offer classes.
Peddler:
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Outgoing, a little coarse, sort of smarmy, the peddler was a constant figure in rural villages from the dark ages through the dawn of the Industrial Revolution and beyond. Often the only source of “unofficial” news from the lands beyond the horizon, the peddler always made a stir when he came to the village. A big burlap sack stuffed full of random junk is all you need beyond basic garb. Try to get people to buy it by spinning a yarn about how it was sold to you by a down and out prince so-and-so in Byzantium. This scarf is tattered because it came from the brow of the Pope’s wife, etcetera. Much like a pawnbroker, this could be the perfect role for someone capable of spinning a tall tale with a straight face. Not a role for the meek to undertake.
Potter:
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Bring clay, make pinch pots, the guild doesn’t have a kiln to fire them in (yet), but if you have one at home or access to one at a community center or school, so much the better to add to the realism of the village! A skilled position, but making pinch pots is something they teach little kids, so how hard can it be to learn the rudiments? As with all things, mastery comes with time, and enthusiasm is rewarded.
Prostitute:
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Props: (just what God gave ye, lass…)
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That’s “Soiled Dove” to you lovey. Need I really explain this one? This is obviously a very period role to play. Outside of the alehouse, try to keep it to mild innuendo, though, this is a family show after all.
Quarryman/Stonecutter:
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(See miner)
Rat Catcher
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As with so many fun characters, this one requires a deft touch in order to have fun with it without alarming and/or scaring away the patrons. If someone has a pet rat, it would be a good opportunity to get him out of the house and introduce him around. A suitably disreputable-looking interpretation of this character would be great fun, tromping about the shire, offering to get rid of the rats which are plaguing (no pun intended) the patrons. “Got Rats miss? I can get rid of them for you, for a fee…”
Scholar:
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It is a myth that Scholars were all wealthy men. Oft times a wealthy man’s son wasn’t necessarily guaranteed to inherit, the third and fourth son often received very little from the father, in fact, and often sought their own fortunes through military or ecclesiastical service. A good role to undertake if your leanings are of a scholarly bent anyway. This role could run anywhere from the doleful poet to the nutty professori.
Scribe:
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Also called a “Scrivener”. With the advent of Gutenberg’s movable-type press, Scribes were less in demand for the production of books. Most Scribes earned their daily bread writing or reading letters for the illiterate. A lot of folks have a working-knowledge of calligraphy, which is all you really need to begin with.
Seamstress/Tailor:
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The best-dressed peasant in the shire. Neat but not too expensive, we must display our skills without rising about our station, mustn’t we? This is one more chance for the needle-talented to show your stuff. Not only would you have carte blanche to work on your garb during faire (perhaps you’re doing a middle class character next year or at another faire) and also an opportunity to talk to patrons and others about the construction of garb without breaking character.
Shepherd:
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Props: (or with sheep)
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In the past, we have had people bring well-behaved sheep to faire and wander around with them. Sheep on the whole are pretty docile and this is fine as long as faire management signs off on it. That being said, one of the best ongoing gigs our guild has seen in recent years is the shepherdess who has lost her sheep and come to town trying to find them. There’s plenty of potential for a shepherd character, this is Scotland, after all.
Storyteller:
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Do you like fairy tales? Are you the sort who can enthrall a crowd of kids and adults with the power of your voice? This is a great role to play if that’s your thing. There are a few folks out there wandering the faire circuit who do this for a living, namely “James the Obscure” and the like. As with any enterprise, it is advisable to find out what the other guys are doing so you can find a niche to fill that doesn’t already have a resident. Master The Obscure, for instance, specializes in telling tales from the old Norse edda, so another such storyteller is not needed. Instead a teller of fairy tales, or a purveyor of Aesop’s fables would be welcome.
Thatcher
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Roofs were thatched rather than tiled in all but the most prosperous villages. Carry around a few cutting tools, some big skeins of twine, and a large bundle of straw or reeds. Walk around offering to thatch the patron’s hovels. Tsk sadly at the quality of the work you see around the shire, or the woeful quantity of tents where a good solid thatched roof would suit so much better.
Tinker:
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Like a Peddler, the Tinker wanders the trade routes, going from village to village as a freelance handyman, mostly repairing kettles, pots and various home implements.
Weaver
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If you know how to weave and have a portable loom handy, this is a wondrous character for sitting in one place and getting patrons to walk up and strike up conversations with you.
Page contents Copyright 2006, Scott W Perkins except where noted
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