HEAR YE AND HERE YOU GO
The Gold Coast Renaissance Faire will showcase 16th-century entertainment this weekend with medieval performers, crafts and games of skill.
SWORD-fighting musketeers, royalty and performing artists are all part of a trip to medieval times this long weekend, for a 16th-century version of the Gold Coast Show.
The renaissance period was known as a time of renewal, when the arts of dance, music, literature and painting flourished.
It was a period that gave us Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and, of course, Shakespeare. The romance of the period will come to life this weekend at the third Gold Coast Renaissance Faire.
The faire is a recreation of a 16thcentury Elizabethan country fair, with period entertainment, costumes, arts, games and food.
Not unlike country shows, the fairs were festive occasions where everyone came for business and pleasure – country and townsfolk, merchants, buccaneers, travelling entertainers and royalty.
It will be recreated on the weekend, with more than 50 costumed performers mingling with visitors, addressing them in the manner of the Renaissance period and a royal procession through the faire grounds three times a day.
You can catch the musketeers with their flashing swords, take in an archery tournament where visitors will be challenged to win a queen’s prize, and artisan stalls will display fine handicrafts of the period.
There will be live theatre and jousting, pirates and queens, children’s storytelling and games.
The Gold Coast Renaissance Faire is on tomorrow and Monday from 9.30am-5pm at the Robina City Parklands, Stadium Drive. Family pass is $27.95, general admission is $12.95.