by Noella Noelophile®
In just two days, Old Fezziwig’s revelers will be gallivanting about the dance floor.
Londoners will try their skill at setting The Marvelous Candy Machine in motion. Father Christmas will hold court. Traditional English mummer’s plays will take place.
And His Royal Highness Prince Albert will introduce the Christmas tree to his beloved wife, Her Majesty Queen Victoria.
Best of all, these are just a few of the features of the Great Dickens Christmas Fair and Holiday Party, which opens Saturday morning, November 17th, in San Francisco’s Cow Palace. The festivities continue for six weekends–right through Sunday, December 23rd.
The Dickens Fair is now in its 36th season. I had the pleasure of experiencing it for the first time in 1978–and have been in love with it ever since.
What’s magical about the Great Dickens Christmas Fair is the way it is, as Red Barn Productions Executive Director Kevin Patterson explained in a 2015 interview, “a total sensory immersion”.
2018 fades as you step into the Cow Palace. You’ll find yourself in the middle of Victorian London–on a lamplit evening just before Christmas.
Now you have to choose: would you like to shop? See a holiday pantomime or Scottish and Irish Dance Show? Tuck into some fish and chips or mulled cider and gingerbread? (Fair warning: you will never, but never, be able to do everything in one day. Good thing the Dickens Fair is open for multiple weekends, as well as the Friday after Thanksgiving!)
Expect to interact with carolers, the Red Queen and other characters from Alice in Wonderland, any one of Dickens’ characters and perhaps, even Mr. Dickens himself. And expect to hear them speak in the dialects of their time, with references to what’s happening in their nineteenth-century world.
The people you might meet
Cast members have, in fact, been attending workshops, courtesy of the Living History Centre, since October. They will have learned the dances, speech patterns, customs and styles of dress to enable them to improvise in bringing Dickensian London to life.
Some of the performers, like Laurie Tavan, have portrayed their characters for a number of years. (Laurie is a very gracious and regal Queen Victoria–and in real life, a highly-talented designer. She makes one-of-a-kind wedding dresses, renaissance gowns, costumes and a lot more.)
Robert Young is a very courtly Charles Dickens. If you’re lucky, you may get to meet up with him at the Adventurers Club.
And–now’s my chance to clear up one misconception, as Kevin mentioned during our interview. Some people think the “Dickens Fair” is just for children.
Well–humbug! (And I mean that in the nicest possible way. No “Bah” involved.)
While the kids will love the puppet shows, Adventure Carousel and games, we “taller kids” (c’mon, I’ve never grown up–have you?) will have a great time, as well.
Just a few activities you might like to check out: “Booting the Cat”, and playing other period games, watching the shows, crafting our own fairy houses…
and even dancing to the music, if we feel so inclined.
There’s also Mad Sal’s Ale House, and the saucy “French Postcards Revue”, for those of us Dickensians who are 18 and up.
And I can personally recommend the Cornish pasties, fine coffee and gingerbread available in the food area. (Research was never so delicious!)
A new addition to the 2018 Dickens Fair is The Time Machine, courtesy of inventor Dr. Murillo. I have not yet experienced this one, but the Dickens Fair’s website invites you to “reach for the brass controls and imagine your destination in another time and place”.
It’s going to have to go some, to beat San Francisco’s Cow Palace during the weekends of November 17th through December 23rd. Have a great time, and Happy Christmas!