Elf Fantasy Fair 2009
Elf Fantasy Fair, Europe's biggest fantasy event … I've been there two times before, once in 2003 and then in 2004 and like it very much - s Spending two or three days in a park, with a castle in the middle, beautifully dressed people, a great mood and a great programme. So I got quite excited to hear (from himself) that Mark would be one of the guests at the 2009 Fair. And I did not get disappointed - Elf Fantasy Fair 2009 definitely was worth a visit.
Friday, 24.04.2009
After staying the first night at our lovely hotel in Utrecht - with a view on a houseboat and some cute thatched houses (the IBIS, quite recommended, their breakfast was nice, too) - the Elf Fantasy Fair started for us, me and my friend Starry, a day earlier than for most other people: With the press conference. Already when approaching the area a certain atmosphere came up - you'd never expect how many dressed up people already are there on the day before the Fair actually starting; setting up booths, preparing stuff, organizing and more, already promising a lot for the upcoming two days. After gathering at the press desk and a short walk along the castle, it was time for the press conference - including a rather amusing introduction by Professor Rotherham, an expert on King Arthur, the Holy Grail and many other things, including "turning gin into urine", to quote him and the entrance of the King and the Queen of the Elf Fantasy Fair themselves.
As there were no questions (but then there wasn't really that much time to think about some), we were guided outside to see a small parade with nicely dressed people and even some very dark creatues (looked a lot like Nazgul) on big, dark horses - very impressive. After this, all attendees were invited to a walk around the area. We took the chance to properly say Hi to Mark (who already spotted us during the rather short press conference, waving and smiling) who was clearly happy to see us, judging by his smile and the bear hug we, something which was mutual. We talked a bit, walking and following the other attendees, about Ring*Con and how it's changing. After a bit the group stopped at a rather large meadow where all the costumed folks from the parade stood ready for pictures being taken.
The next stop was for a battle which was spoiled a bit by the huge tree standing (from our point of view) directly where the fighters clashed onto each other, so a good while we could only guess what was happening there. The most entertaining thing where the dead who - obviously still a bit alive - got bored and began to talk to each other while the rest of the armies still fought. Somewhere in between we lost Mark who had found a place he got invited to earlier - for a BBQ and beer. None of which was available right now - but at least they had a fridge, in the middle of the woods. One can only wonder … On we went - with some obstacles like a very, very deep and rather big branch forcing everyone over 5'00 (including Mark and me) to do the limbo (as it was next to a lake, just walking around wasn't really an option). The last stop on our tour was the Chapel which was just stunning, with beautiful glass windows and a harp player sitting inside.
After visiting the Chapel, the group somehow got parted - suddenly many people were gone, we had already lost James Marsters somewhere in the woods (but as he turned up on Saturday we assume it wasn't all that bad and only for an interview or such) and the rest of us was sitting or standing around without having a clue. We had a nice lunch at the staff tent and then used the free afternoon for a trip to Den Haag (after plundering a Jamin sweets store in Utrecht - you have to go there, it's amazing!), getting some sun and sea and sand on the beach. I have been to Den Haag several times but already some years ago, so it was wonderful to come back and see most things unchanged and wonderful as earlier. After some sunny hours, several dogs needing our attention (and cuddles), an expensive but yummie dinner and a lovely sunset, we made our way back to Utrecht for a good night of sleep before the Fair would actually start the next day.
Saturday, 25.04.2009
We arrived just in time to see millions of dressed up people and an already crowded parking lot. We arrived at the entrance, got our tickets and then had to wait for a bit before the Fair actually started. It then began with the Queen and the King coming up on a tower, opening the Fair and singing.
The first thing on our schedule was the Acting Workshop with Mark.. Or rather on my schedule as Starry didn't want to do it - even though both I and Mark tried to convince her to enroll but it didn't work. So she went off to explore the Fair a bit and I used the time waiting for the workshop to have a nice chat with Mark. I seized the moment and told him about the website (which he didn't know about until this moment - "I did something crazy and stupid …" - "That's not crazy and stupid!". He liked the idea of having infos on all the things he had done in one place, not being very good in keeping things himself), we were talking a bit about funny old things like Sons and Daughters or A Country Practice, for which it took me several hours of research to actually come up with just one lousy paragraph of text. We even got visited by the Queen and the King which made Mark stand up for the Queen to give her a kiss on the hand.
Shortly before 10.30 pm we decided it was time for the workshop and went to see if the other person enrolled was in the tent already. Even though we just were two people - with the fair opening only half an hour before there was not really the chance of that many visitors enrolling for this - we bravely tried it. And I think this workshop was much, much better than those at Ring*Con (even though I love them, too, mostly) just because it wasn't as crowded and Mark could fully concentrate on, well, the two of us ;)
The workshop itself was new to me, he hadn't done this before at Ring*Con. It was about characters, how to bring them and their special traits to life. We started with different kinds of walking (with the hips, the shoulders, the nose, the arms - which made Mark wonder what it would look like if someone walks with his ears) which ended up with the three of us running around in circles, behind each other (which didn't work out too well) to see how someone else is working - it made me all dizzy and Mark's PA laugh out loud. We went on to see how you can show shyness for example, or evilness, how you can pick traits from different persons and put together your very own character, how to show empathy, act like the character and know why he does so and such things. After Mark got compared with a meerkat (he asked!) we came to the last part of the workshop, involving the concepts of High and Low Status. Quite interesting - especially because Mark had a nice (unintentional) demonstration of (his) High Status when he took more time to finish his workshop than he originally had.
Just when we were about to leave the tent, a nice guy told us that we should turn around and grab a seat if we wanted to see Spike (James Marsters). And so we did, without thinking a lot actually, getting a nice seat in the second row. And it was a very good decision - the tent got incredibly crowded in the end, I think there were people staying outside, too. Obviously many people had queued up and waited for the Workshop to finish while we took our time.
James had quite a hilarious lecture (during which Starry suddenly appeared next to me, she knew where to find me). He talked about his kiss with John Barrowman in Torchwood (with his gilfriend, on set, loving the hot kiss but insisting they had to do it again and again) and his idea of a movie with spike (being in love, trying to hide that he's a vampire, getting dumped brutally when she finds out, then fighting a small monster which suddenly turns big, running away - screaming for a librarian - and in the end getting a new pair of shoes). He also mentioned that Antony Head (Giles) was ruthless when he tried to make Spike's British accent perfect and talked about the musical episode which made him even sing in the end. A very entertaining lecture and basically the only thing I really saw of him the weekend (except on Friday as well as some short 'meeting' when both of us were wandering around) because it was so crowded wherever he got and I tried to avoid that.
After the lecture we went out to explore the area a bit, something we hadn't done properly so far. It was beautiful, the location itself and all the nicely dressed up people all around. Mark seemed to be impressed, too, when we stood at his table once, he jumped up, grabbed his camera and ran behind some amazingly dressed people to ask them for a picture.
After a nice lunch we watched a group on the music stage, they had loud but very cool Japanese drums and were really good with them. The para para dance instructions afterwards were rather weired, so we went on - it was time for the next scheduled event anyway: Bloodball.
Bloodball - well, what can I say about this? Just one thing: Watch it! Oh my God, we laughed so much! Bloodball basically is a game with two teams and a chopped off head as the ball. It begins with the 'ball' being thrown into the air, everyone screaming 'Bloodball' and then it's basically about getting the ball into a goal (i.e. an area at the side of the field). Basically, because there were times when the 'ball' got ignored completely and the teams instead tried to slaughter each other, happily doing so - at one point, even the commentor on her stage close by got attacked by them. There were healers, too, who went around and resurrected the dead so that they could be a part of the game again. With us sitting behind one of the goals, we had an excellent view and were, erm, quite involved into the game. In the end, it was 4:4 and 1 for the audience, even though I am still not sure how *that* did happen. Mark did get quite excited when we told him about Bloodball but unfortunately had missed it and wouldn't be able to attend the one on Sunday either. Me promising him to send him pictures and videos made him a bit less sorry ;)
After Bloodball, we tried to make our way back (which wasn't easy with about 12.500 people in attendence on Saturday, about 24.500 in total on both days) but we made it and decided we could say Hi to Mark again and get some things signed. After trying to keep his pictures from flying away (too much wind) I made him get a laughing fit when handing him a nice picture of him in a red dress. Once discovered in the Internet a while ago, I thought it was worth printing out and seeing what he'd say. I think he liked it ;) We also took the chance to get our pictures taken with him, by the professional photographer directly opposite Mark's signing table. How neat. It's also neat that he's so tall because it always looks ridiculous when I (about 5'11) am trying to take pictures with people much smaller than me or about the same size, especially when it's with men. Mark and I just get along very well, size wise (which he loves, too).
We took another stroll around the area, had a short break right at the water, sitting down a bit, seeing more nicely costumed guys and exploring the Lover's Labyrinth. After the big Elven Battle, we decided it was time for dinner and because it was getting cold and we wanted to avoid the huge traffic jam when everyone leaves the Fair, it was back home (i.e. hotel) after this.
Sunday, 26.04.2009
Sunday, the second and last day of Elf Fantasy Fair started with … a lot. A lot of everything. A lot of people wanting to check out the hotel and being too stupid to, a lot of annoyance because of that, a lot of cars wanting to get on the parking area (at the same time as we did, unfortunately) and a lot of hectic and stress to get to Mark's Workshop in time, just because of all the things happening before. Oh, and a lot of rain (well, some, actually) which caused us to arrive at Mark's signing table breathing heavily and with lovely (not!) curls in our hair because of the rain. Well … it didn't help that the Workshop got cancelled because of not really someone being enrolled for it - and that the only thing Mark said was 'Don't you have an umbrella?' Uhm, thanks.
We used the free time, though, to wander around a bit and luckily it didn't rain that much, it just wasn't as sunny and nice as it had been the last days. We also checked the starting times for tours through the castle but those were only about to start at twelve so we had some time to kill. So we went back to Mark, to record the welcoming message for the website which he kindly agreed to. He was very tempted as we told him that we'd do a castle tour and offered him to come with us, but in the end, he didn't come because someone else (I think it was the EFF organizer himself) wanted to show him the castle later on. Even my suggestion 'Just behave like you see it for the first time, later' didn't help (Even though he would have been very convincing, seeing him try out his 'Yeah, I think this is from 1250 …'). Too bad.
After this was done, we managed to get to the Chapel just in time for a lecture of Professor Rotherham. I am very glad I actually managed to attend this as it was amazing. The lecture, 'End of All Things', was about, well, the end of all things, the Apocalypse. He didn't just talk like many other people do, he involved the audience, made his way through with asking what belonged to a true apocalypse ('All people dying? That's not the apocalypse, that's a big flu epidemic'), with even the devil giving answers (really, a guy dressed as the devil, he said something from behind, was asked to get in front and just got a 'Oh, of course' and the remark that everyone of us has a devil inside). We also learned that building a city right next to an active Vulcano (Pompeij) is "Ooops", getting arrows in the breast and being killed by this isn't, because "crashing the Overhead is Oops, falling off the step here is Oops, this is more like 'Oh the fuck this hurts!'."
We left a bit early because we didn't want to miss Raven Dane - or rather: Starry didn't want to miss her and I came with her, just meaning to talk a bit before I'd sneak out and explore the area a bit. Well - sneaking out wasn't possible anymore because there were only three people attending and it would have been rather mean to actually leave when Raven came. But it wasn't the worst decision to stay - we had a nice talk, rather than a lecture, about baddies and what charaterises them, very entertaining. She seemed a bit down that there were only three people - but this was at the exact same time as James Marster's lecture in the tent next to us (we even heard them cheering in between) so I don't think anyone else would have attracted more people. And I think we were quite a good and interested audience.
Then it was almost 1pm and we decided that it was the right time for a guided castle tour, only to arrive there and see that the 1pm one was already sold out. So we booked the one for 1.30pm and instead had some lunch. And to discover a toilet with a sign saying that it was both for disabled as well as women with big dresses. Very nice idea ;) We slowly made our way back to the castle, just in time for our tour. Our guide fit so well into the clichee, it was unbelievable. An older woman, grey hair, in a bun, costume, stiff as a poker and not really friendly. It got better during the (dutch) tour because Starry kept asking things in English and the lady noticed that she was really interested and she got quite friendly in the end. I think she was just a bit fed up with guiding folks around. Unfortunately we weren't allowed to take any pictures of the castle, it was beautiful and even had an in-ground bathtub. And the castle had a dungeon but it wasn't part of the tour and according to our guide, there wasn't much to see anyway. Poor Mark, he so wanted to see it and got quite excited when Starry told him later that there indeed was a dungeon (he had asked earlier if there was one). Not only did he miss the Torture show which was at the same time as his second Workshop (he liked the idea of maybe combining it, but - luckily - didn't do it in the end) but also couldn't get his visit to the dungeon.
When we left the castle, we again came across Mark's signing table where he was busy taking pictures with costumed people - I wished him good luck which he obviously needed ;)
It still was a bit early, but as I was tired and not really in the mood to wander around a lot, so I decided to sit down in the tent where Mark's lecture should be at 3pm. Starry wandered around a bit but later joined me. We both would have loved to see Bloodball again, but as it was at the opposite side of the area and we'd never make it back in time to see Mark's 20 minutes lecture, we decided against it.
The lecture didn't get too full, unfortunately, roughly fifteen people, if ever. Too bad. Most people didn't really seem to know him, even though everyone was quite excited after they had seen him. Let it be one of the workshops or the lecture - they constantly went 'Hey, that was very, very cool, which part did he play again?'. And he immediately won the people, I think, when he told some costumed guys that he so had to take a picture of them later.The lecture was quite funny with Mark telling a lot about bloopers at the Lord of the Rings set (Orlando not being able to handle his arrows well, himself stepping on the head of some stunt guy, hutting another stunt guy a bit hard and so one - many new stories we didn't know, despite seven years of Ring*Con) and also said how much he liked the Fair and how well the people from the most different fandoms get together. There will be a transcript of the panel later, so that you can read this in all details ;)
After a short break, spent in the park, it was time for the second workshop which had some more people enrolled. We waited a bit for Mark and then got into the tent with him. He had a nice lipstick mark on his cheek btw, and an explanation for this, too: "It was lust. No, really, it was someone dressed as one of the Deadly Sins, with the writing Lust on the costume". Needless to say that he didn't bother to wipe it off all day - hey, a man with a lipstick mark on his cheek definitely looks interesting, doesn't he?
Mark didn't seem too sure which workshop this should be (the schedule just said 'Workshop' in both cases) so he decided to mix the both he offered, but in the end it was mostly the one we already had at Ring*Con - and unfortunately the one I didn't really like because I was very, very bad at it. Anyway - it was good fun, still. Especially because we started with the nice clapping game where you have to eye the person next to you very suspiciously when the clap comes around, just not to miss out 'getting the clap' and 'giving' it to the person next to you. I did know (and liked!) this one from Ring*Con - but I didn't know the version where the clap could go anywhere in the circle - it ended in a huuuge mess but was very funny. Mark explained quite a lot, about the Objection, the Action and the Obstacle in a scene and I was surprised how much I still knew from Ring*Con even though I had the feeling back then, to be completely overstrained. We then had to grab a partner, one of a team turning around and the other only using the words 'Turn around' to convince this person to turn around. You could use different Actions, like pleading or shouting or ordering - whatever you can think of. The second (and last, 45 minutes run so fast) thing was the also well known exercise with one person sitting at a chair and someone else having to get them off that chair, just by convining him/her to do so. Mark made everyone laugh when he told the story about himself being at drama school, doing exactly this game; rivalries with a friend and it ending with him standing outside the window (second floor or so) and the teacher calling the security people to get him inside again while his friend, on the chair, screaming and shouting 'He just wants to get me off that chair'! And I think he confused the girl sitting on the chair when he suddenly bent down, from behind, whispering words into her ear. At least her eyes got very wide ;) While other people tried to get someone off that chair, Mark sat down, watched and gave hints when necessary. In total I liked this Workshop, much more than the one at Ring*Con, maybe because we were less people, again (seven with me, with over twenty at Ring*Con).
We took another walk around the area and then decided that 5pm would be a good time to actually leave because we had some hours by car between us and home. But of course we couldn't go without saying Goodbye to Mark and getting our photos from the day before signed. We talked a bit more, also about Ring*Con - he said he might know more in a month or so. Let's keep our fingers crossed! A bit hesistant we said Goodbye and left Mark who was about to have a tour through the castle, too and had his camera ready. (I am still a bit envious of this huge camera btw, I'd really love to have such a thing, too. I don't mind that Mark thinks it's old and a Dinosaur). Seeing some strange bunnies (and a tiger, I think) cheered us up a bit, though. We left the parking lot, drove the way to our hotel (at least a big part of it) one last time (as well as a hotel in front of which in the morning someone sat smoking which could have been Mark, same colour of clothing - I still wonder if it was him) and then on to the highway.
On our way back home (where we arrived at around 9pm, much earlier than expected) we passed by a place netly called Markelo - a nice end to a very, very lovely weekend.
There will be another Elf Fantasy Fair later this year, in Arcen (close to Venlo), directly behind the German-Dutch border, which also sounds like a lot of good fun - it seems to be more music centred than the one in Haarzuilens, though. One highlight surely will be the show of Tarja Turunen, the former singer of Nightwish. And I really, really hope there will be bloodball, too!
Links:
Elf Fantasy Fair: Arcen
c) Claudia
Contact Mark