Our “Golden Rules”

For all these golden rules we have more details in subsidiary documents. Ask us for details.

Right, or Not at All

Does this mean that everything we do and have in use is fully and utterly documented? Unfortunately, no. Sometimes we stretch things a bit if the Compagnie’s presentation as a whole needs an object or activity. We try to balance the need or desire for a given object or procedure against the educational and/or entertainment benefits.

Activity for activity’s sake is pointless and leads to bad living history.

Attention to the correct details is vital.

The Best That We Can Do

Naturally, some areas in which we deal are better documented and/or more extensively researched. In those areas, we are stricter with regard to what we allow in our presentation. In areas where we are still experimenting or researching, we are more lenient.

Where we have objects available to use that are highly regarded for their historicity, we prefer not to substitute objects in which we can discern flaws. When no one in the group has an object of certain type, and we feel that the group will benefit from the object’s inclusion in our presentation, we may be more lenient in allowing its use, even when we have concerns about the object’s historicity.

Many of us have put things away when a better version became available. It’s an ongoing process.

Typical, Typical, Typical

We believe that living history is best served by presenting that which is ordinary rather than that which is extraordinary.

We expect our presentations to be filled with stuff which is typical for our chosen time period.

We expect our people to have stuff which is typical for their portrayal’s social and wealth levels.

We expect everyone to have the necessary stuff which is typical for the role portrayed.

We strive for an overall presentation which shows a typical distribution of types, qualities, and quantities of items.

It’s Personal

We expect participants at our presentations to “perform” in the first person. That means we talk as though we are living in the time period we are presenting.

We don’t use the period language, but we try to sprinkle in some period words, and we need to say “I do” and “we are” rather than “they did” and “they would have” when we’re talking about activities. We ditch the modern slang, okay?

We don’t dictate the specifics of a portrayal, but we do expect all portrayals to be consistent with the theme of the event, suitable to the venue, and coordinated with existing portrayals. (We’ve got a process to “register” portrayals.)

A participant's portrayal may be different from one event to another, but whatever it is, that participant must be able to achieve a proper appearance for the stated portrayal.

We expect beginners to develop a “commons” portrayal first.

The Public Needs to Know

We are an educational corporation and we take that seriously. When we are making a public presentation, we expect everyone involved to work at talking to and educating our guests, the “Public.”

We schmooze with our re-enactor friends when we’re “off-duty” and after public hours.

We are always polite to our guests.

One For All and All For One

We are a team. We help our people with preparations and with presentations. We’re not fond of folks who never have time to help out. We’re also not fond of people can’t do anything without lots of help.

We are serious about group presentation. We want each portrayal and object working together to give a rich, full, and reasonable presentation.

We often have a Compagnie consensus interpretation of the history we are presenting, sort of a “party line.” We expect it to be used in our presentations. Remember, the “facts” may not be what people learn in school.

Observe the Social Niceties

Does that mean we beat the servants? Only by prior arrangement and agreement.

Choices of period clothing and accessories should be guided by the status, wealth, and national origin of the chosen portrayal.