At the scorching end of summer, a curious transformation happens at a field in Crownsville. Thousands of ordinary people arrive at the otherwise unremarkable pasture, pop their trunks, and transform into a fantastic spectrum of heroes, heroines, and supernatural creatures. This is the magic of the Maryland Renaissance Festival—every year, from August through October, you can be whoever, and whatever, you want to be.

The 41-year-old “Renn Fest” is an escape into a fleeting fantasy world of bawdiness with a heavy dollop of medieval make-believe. The 27-acre village is a self-consciousness-free zone where earnest attendees sing along, sip mugs of mead, and merrily wave their steaks-on-a-stake in the sweltering air. Starting this weekend, liberate ye inner lord or lady and revel in one of the most wonderfully weird events that Maryland has to offer.

Illustration by Michael Byers

Embrace the Eccentric
Cheer for your favorite knight during the jousting competition. Observe the acrobats as they perform daring stunts at the Wheel of Death. Sigh as Romeo’s Juliet dies during a Baltimore Shakespeare Factory play. Throw axes. Throw knives. Throw softballs at targets until the heckling wench falls in the drink. Get your palm read. Flirt with someone who really committed to chainmail. But most importantly, give in to the sheer absurdity of it all.

Look Past the Turkey Legs
While turkey legs might be all the rage, follow your gut to the real-deal smorgasbord of fried deliciousness at White Stag Grove, where a smattering of Scotch eggs, mac-and-cheese stakes, and funnel cake fries make a fine feast. There are also ample suds and oyster shooters at O’Shucks Pub near Valley Meade, plus craft brews, mead, and cider at the Wine Pavilion near the Royal Stage.

When in Doubt, Don’t Chicken Out
Renn Fest is one of the few places where you can truly let your freak flag fly. For proper attire, hit up Etsy, your local craft store, or the festival itself. Onsite costume rentals cost $60 or less, but to truly live out your dreams of being a pirate princess or a dragon-slayer, there’s plenty to buy: snag a dress from Moresca, hit up the hat selection at Tall Toad, or grab Game of Thrones-worthy leather goods at Miles Tonne.

Be In The Know
Tickets are cheaper from Aug. 25-Sept. 9 (read: hotter but less crowded): $8 for children and $19 for adults, compared to $11 and $26 from Sept. 15-Oct. 21. The parking lot usually fills up by noon, so get there early to grab a spot or wait until the crowds thin out later in the day. Check out the Renn Fest’s events calendar for themed weekends such as Celtic Celebration, Romance Weekend, and Shakespeare Weekend.

Celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay, who was raised in Stratford-upon-Avon—the birthplace of Shakespeare—is known to be a total drama king in the kitchen with his fiery temper and profanity-laced language. But in person, he’s as affable as they come. Ramsay, who has 32 restaurants all over the world (and TV shows all over Fox including Hell’s Kitchen, MasterChef, and The F Word with Gordon Ramsay) has been in Baltimore getting ready to open Gordon Ramsay Steak at the Horseshoe Casino. This is his first steakhouse on the East Coast, and a sister spot to his Las Vegas eatery. We caught up with the multi-Michelin starred chef to talk about steak, Baltimore, and The Bard. 

Have you visited Baltimore before?
I’ve been four times. It’s a lot like London, hardworking, not over-glamorized. It’s just one of those vibrant cities that has a real passion to it. You sense that just walking to the stadium. I didn’t go to the game, but I watched it on TV and visited the stadium this morning. 

I know you worked in an American steakhouse early in your career. What did you learn?
It was just this feeling of warmth and generosity, and it was that kind of hustle and bustle of the place that I loved. It was absolutely jam-packed. Everyone was snug in the booth, and the food was exceptional. The standard of the meat was the most important thing to me, just the quality of the beef, whether it was grass-fed or dry-aged, the quality was second to none.

You’ve said that you know whether a restaurant is going to be good or bad in seconds. What are you looking for when you dine out?
I send my wife to the bathroom. I want to make sure that the bathrooms are immaculate before I sit down. If the hygiene isn’t right, I leave immediately—that sets the tone. And then there’s the lighting. Lighting needs to be an enhancer. The lighting needs to make you feel welcome and not frigid. And then that first welcome is critical, whether there’s someone in the reception area, a maître d’ or even a server, you need to be made to feel welcome.

To what do you owe your success?
I owe it to my mum. She taught me manners and hard work. Mum had two jobs. She was a nurse at night and a cook during the day. We got to eat the food that didn’t sell. I got that determination and hunger from watching her.

Did you cook with her at home?
She’d never let me cook. I did prep. I’d peel the parsnips. Peel the carrots. The only thing I was allowed to do then was bake. I did a couple of cooking courses at school, but my main interest then was sports. I would go fishing on the river Avon and play soccer. After soccer, I’d go back and help my mum clean and cook. 

Growing up in Stratford-upon-Avon, what was your relationship with Shakespeare?
I used to live next to Mary Arden’s house [Shakespeare’s mother]. Throughout the summer and fall, I was in and out of theater. I was super shy about expressing myself in drama. But I understood that boisterousness and that passion from watching the plays and studying the literature. I wasn’t interested in it, but we had to do it. It gave me insight for theatricality. 

You’re this nice guy. Is what we see on TV for show or is that really a part of who you are?
I don’t parlay bullshit. We’re having a chat because I’m not even in service. But when we step into that arena where you’re paying $60 or $100 for a meal, it’s important to me. I’m not two-faced, I’m not hypocritical—I just call it as I see it. 

What do you think of food critics?
It’s something you have to live with. I’m 51, I’ve been cooking since I was 19. I’ve been judged by individuals who know less about food than I do. I call it rhino skin, because of the beat-ups and the jump-ons and the negativity—you have to skin like a rhino that stretches. And every time [one of my cooks] is upset because someone didn’t like something, I say “rhino.” You have to build that character. I respect the critics when they know what they’re talking about, but I don’t respect the critics when they haven’t got a clue. I had a Russian critic in the U.K. who got so drunk at one of my restaurants once, he phoned me the next day to find out what he had eaten. 

Other than the Union Jack on the ceiling of the dining room, what other British touches have you brought to your steakhouse?
This meat trolley is my Rolls Royce. I wanted to bring a little touch of British-ness to the dining room. Pushing one of these carts is like pushing a Rolls Royce through the dining room. This gets rolled to every table. We spaced the tables and booths purposely far apart. The grade and the marbling of the meat are apparent in the reflective surfaces of the cart. Twenty years ago it used to be a soufflé that would pass through the dining room—now it’s this baby. We have a GPS on it in case it goes missing. It’s good enough to cart the crown jewels. 

Speaking of the crown jewels, are you excited about the upcoming royal wedding?

I’m very excited. We know Prince Harry very well. I’ve seen him at events and had the pleasure of cooking for him. What an amazing match—and what a fantastic time to do it. America and Great Britain are becoming even closer. How cool is that? 

Between Everyman Theatre’s new space, Center Stage’s innovative direction under Kwame Kwei-Armah, and Single Carrot Theatre’s successful relocation, the local theater scene is enjoying quite a revival.

So, no better time for the Howard County-based Chesapeake Shakespeare Company (CSC) to expand into downtown Baltimore, kicking off its season September 20, and cementing the area as a bona fide theater district.

“We had always stayed away from Baltimore because we didn’t want to conflict with the other company in the city,” says CSC’s founding artistic director Ian Gallanar, pictured, left, referring to the erstwhile Baltimore Shakespeare Festival. “But when they folded [in 2011], it became clear that this is where we want to pursue our expansion.”

For 12 years, CSC has performed outdoors in Ellicott City (which it will continue to do in the summer), but once Gallanar got a glimpse of the old Mercantile Trust and Deposit Company building, he knew this was the company’s new home. “The building is evocative and reminds one of the configuration of the Globe Theatre,” he says. “It’s an intimate, vertical theater where the furthest audience member is only 20 feet from the stage.”

While the theater is reminiscent of an Elizabethan playhouse, it has modern amenities, like a side family room where kids can settle down during shows. The season opens with A Midsummer Night’s Dream followed by Richard II and will include non-Shakespeare works like A Christmas Carol around the holidays. Additionally, matinee showings of Romeo and Juliet will be performed for school children starting in the spring.

“We’re anxious to bring our kind of Shakespeare to town,” says CSC managing director Lesley Malin, pictured, right. “It’s informal, quirky, and fun—very right for Baltimore.”