I have been following this thread with a great deal of interest. As
a Language Director for a Scots' Guild, I can point out one *very* good
reason why a faire actor, professional or not, might *not* 'drop accent'
as soon as faire closed, or even 3 hours after the last customer has
driven away, whether they stay fully in character or not. (There
is of course a difference between 'dropping accent' and 'dropping
character'.)
     Even the most professional of actors, who may be able to sound like
Will himself reading Shakespeare's plays, when working as an
improvisational actor at a faire is not reciting carefully coached lines,
but speaking a closely related, but still *foreign* language. And to
speak a foreign language well, let alone fluently, takes practice. Lots
and lots of practice. Far more practice than a few workshop and rehersal
days. More than 6 or 8 or 10 or 20 working faire days once a year. More than
just listening to tapes in the car and speaking strangely to your cat on
occasion. The more you practice a language, especially practice
responding to another live being (whether or not they too are
practicing), the better you will get. And a professional actor will
practice his part, particularly the tricky elements of that part, again and
again until he has it as good as he can get it.
     Admittedly, it is quite healthy to take breaks from practicing.
On the other hand, the time you spend with other faire people, be it at
9pm Saturday on a faire weekend or 6pm after work on wednesday while
sewing another bit of costume, is one of the few oppurtunities you have
to practice your foreign language on other humans without worrying they will
call out the little men in white coats to come put you away somewhere
padded.
     In some ways, speaking in accent out of hours can be better practice
than the many hours in front of the customers. Out of hours, you don't
have the pressure of being 'on', of performing. You may be more relaxed
and this helps when practicing. You can allow yourself to concentrate
just on the language and not worry about the characterization, helping
you to learn to speak more naturally about normal things in a normal (for
the foreign language) way, without worrying about whether any customers
are listening, whether you're blocking someones view or where this 'gig'
is taking you, how to resolve it and whether its time to move further
down the street.
     The better you get at using the language naturally, the better you
will sound during the faire day: the better you will do your *job*.  And
the professional works at his job until he gets it right, not just until
the whistle blows at 6pm.
     To think of it another way, if you were an English speaking actor
working in French improvisational theatre, would you think it the sign of
a professional to *never* speak in French except when you were actually
performing?
     Personally, I would encourage all faire actors to leap at any and
every oppurtunity to speak in accent.

Beannachd leibh!
Sharon Krossa
Language Director (in absentia), Comann Naomh Bri\de (St. Brigid's Guild,
The Scots), LHC Northern Renaissance Faire, California
[Developer of BASH -- the Basic Accent for Scottis Hielanderis]
e-mail: s.kro...@aberdeen.ac.uk (PLEASE use this address rather than what
may appear elsewhere! Thank you!)