Neil Arsenty
From Renaissance Faire Wiki
Neil Arsenty was a performer at the Bristol Renaissance Faire from 2002 to 2006. He also began BristolWiki on May 31, 2005.
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[edit] Performance History
For his first three seasons, he performed in Kids Kingdom. For his last two, he was part of Street.
[edit] Duncan McCrackers (2002)
In Neil's first year at Bristol, he played Duncan McCrackers. He was known as a kind Scottish man who spoke in an indecipherable brogue. Some of his catchphrases were "Everybody knows!" and "Grapefruit", the latter which was often requested to be said in his hilarious dialect. He was sometimes seen accompanied by his puppet friend Basil (see below).
[edit] William Nilly (2003)
In 2003, Neil played William Nilly. He was labeled an "Evil Genius" and was the half-twin brother of Patch Padfoot. He also founded the Evil School of Evil. He can be characterized by his curly evil moustache.
[edit] Wolfgang von Bigbadde (2004)
In 2004, Neil played Wolfgang von Bigbadde. He was a German version of the Big Bad Wolf character from various fairy tales. He came to Kids Kingdom after being banished from the Schwartzwald by Emperor of the Puppy and Kitty Nation, Patch Padfoot. He seemed anything but bad, however, and portrayed himself as "misunderstood". On various occasions, he was also mistaken for a squirrel or cat, due to his close resemblance to those animals.
After mending his ways, he became one of Bristol's Ambassadors of the Puppy and Kitty Nation. At the start of the Faire day, he usually performed Spytte-Tayke Ackshun Theatre with his close friend Manuel at the Town Square Public House.
[edit] Constable Raspberry (2005)
In 2005, Neil joined the Street cast as Constable Raspberry. His name was roughly pronounced "PHBBTTTT!" He was the self-proclaimed head of Bristol Homeland Security.
His first name was Bobby, perhaps explaining the origin of the British slang for a policeman. (However, in sooth, the slang is named after Robert Peel, the founder of the first metro police force in London).
[edit] Boatswain Crambone (2006)
In 2006, he returned to Street as part of the nautical-themed Mariners troupe as Boatswain Crambone. An odd sailor, he hailed from the port of Crambonia. He also had a minor case of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder.
Neil took his name from the Tom and Jerry cartoon "Peco's Pest", where the main character continues singing "Froggy Went A-Courtin'" and ending every line with "c-c-c-c-crambone."
[edit] Miscellaneous
- Every year since 2004, Neil's characters have celebrated Apple Smashing Day, which basically involved getting children to smash apples with him under the Apple Tree for an undetermined amount of time. In 2005, he came up with the backstory of ASD, which explains that a number of years ago Bristol was governed by ruthless apple tyranny, until the citizens eventually ran them into the center of town and smashed them all into oblivion.
- He returned for one day in the 2007 season and performed as the love-lorn Costard the Melancholy in the Fooles Troupe.
[edit] Background Outside of Faire
Neil graduated with a Bachelor's Degree in Theatre Arts from Cardinal Stritch University in 2003 (where he trained with KRF/BRF alumnus David Krajec).
Since graduating, he has also trained with the Second City Training Center, i.O. Chicago (formerly ImprovOlympic) and Annoyance Theater in Chicago. He has performed in several sketch comedy revues and plays there.
