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Date: 8/22/2023
EASTHAMPTON — The Harlot Queens spice up Renaissance faires throughout New England. On Aug. 19 at Cityspace they celebrated the release of the troupe’s new CD.
Fans can now play the Harlot Queen’s music in the hot tub or the boudoir. Co-founder Seana Lamothe said things get most wild at shows where a crowd gets involved.
“We used to run a kilt and corset competition. At the end, you have to strike a Marilyn Monroe pose,” Lamothe said. The men in kilts looked like Monroe holding down her dress in a high wind. “We fired up the leaf blower to create the effect.”
The men also passed large inflatable pickles from one to another, from behind, using only their knees. The necessary moves made even the straight guys laugh.
Most troupe members work as educators during the day and hold themselves to a very different standard. At night, at a show, the Queens entertain fairgoers and get them relaxed while singing about juicy subjects. A great equalizer, Lamothe said, is how the Queens poke fun at members of the audience, who enjoy the ribald humor.
“We like to educate people about all the interesting bird names that exist, like tufted titmouse and southern screamer,” Lamothe said. “There are many different kinds of boobies, like the blue-footed booby. Then there’s the tits, there’s different tits. These are things birders say with a straight face.”
The four original troupe members met a long time ago, while performing individually at the Mutton and Meade Festival in Montague, the Massachusetts Renaissance Faire in Cummington, and other area faires. Bawdy girl groups are popular acts. The troupe came together to keep performing, expanded slowly and staged tryouts for new queens. The troupe schedules shows in Cape Cod, New Hampshire and Connecticut, with plans to go further afield when the economics add up.
The troupe sings traditional bawdy songs, parodies and numbers written by troupe members. Lamothe is still amused by one of her compositions, popular with audiences, called “Siren’s Song.” The ditty is about unsatisfied wives who take their husbands down to the shore where the sirens, well known for luring sailors to their deaths, take care of them.
“We have a traditional number called ‘Cuckoo’s Nest,’ which is about teaching a fella where to find your cuckoo’s nest,” Lamothe said. “We have a parody of ‘Blow the Man Down,’ which you can imagine…We were great on the radio. They had to do some bleeping.”
Each Queen plays a specific role. Lamothe uses Grainne as her stage name, while other characters include Anastasia, Autumn, Cecily, Daphne, Esther, Liana, Mal, Runa and Valentine. Viola is currently interning.
The business side of the Harlot Queens is important too. The troupe interns new members and occasionally hosts tryouts so that actors in community theater, if interested, can audition. Expansion depends on booking dates farther afield, which adds the expense of hotels and travel. Faire organizers are limited in how much they can pay a bawdy troupe — but the new EP adds cachet to the Harlot Queens and will make it easier to apply to distant venues.
“We just have such a wonderful response all over New England. We usually have really big crowds,” Lamothe said. “We actually also do some bartending…when we go down to Cape Cod we spend the day both bartending and doing shows at the same time, creating an immersive environment…People seem to love it.”
A website for the Harlot Queens is found at theharlequeens.com. Contact information and future performance dates can be found there, as well as biographies of the performers.