This weekend is it: the opening weekend for the Bay Area’s Great Dickens Christmas Fair!
And once again, Queen Victoria will be reigning over the festivities.
Designer Laurie Tavan has been portraying the young monarch for the past eleven years. The beloved Queen and the royal family will be making appearances throughout the Dickens Fair, enjoying some of the performances and, occasionally, leading the revelers at Fezziwig’s Dance Party.
The Dickens Fair, which Ron and Phyllis Patterson started in 1970, is a Bay Area Christmas tradition. If you’ve never been, the term “interactive theatre” doesn’t begin to cover it. Neither do “performance art” or “Christmas festival”.
For the Dickens Fair, Daly City’s Cow Palace is transformed to lamplit London streets. More than 700 characters from Dickens’ day and imagination will be roaming around, celebrating–and going about their lives. Chestnuts will be roasting, vendors will be selling (and creating) unique crafts, performances and pantomimes are part of each day, and games and great food round out the experience.
It is, quite simply, a magical step back to Dickens’ London–just before Christmas.
Laurie talked about her experiences with the Dickens Fair and what’s involved in bringing the Queen to life, and offered a look at the Dickens Fair from Queen Victoria’s point of view.
The Great Dickens Christmas Fair opens at 10:00, Saturday, November 19th, and runs for five weekends, through Sunday, December 18th. Hours are 10:00 am to 7:00 pm, each day of the Dckens Fair, and the Fair is open on the Friday after Thanksgiving–November .25th. Please note that this year, tickets are “Select Day” and must be purchased for the specific day you would like to attend. Here’s the link for information.
And while you don’t have to dress in Victorian costume, you can if you like! Here are costume guidelines from the Dickens Fair’s website.
Like to know more about Charles Dickens’ London? The Dickens Fair’s website also has a link to his novels and some of the best interpretations of them. (And I agree, Patrick Stewart’s reading of “A Christmas Carol” could leave even old Scrooge glowing inside.)