Sapphira Mohammed, Copy Editor
Saanvi Vootla, Contributing Writer
Hundreds of Renaissance fans banded together in full costume on Saturday, ready to witness the rebirth of “The Princess Bride” with a live, sword fighting shadow cast — and the birth of Richmond’s first ever, full renaissance fair.
In Virago Alley’s build-up to the Richmond Ren Faire, the nonprofit organization held a screening of the 1987 film at the Byrd Theatre.
Virago Alley’s founder Amanda Robinson said they wanted something magical for their first event of 2026.
“We just found the first week of February was a nice time to kick off this entire series of opening acts,” Robinson said. “ I think that this event is kind of a chance to highlight all three important facets of our organization and programming.”
The event was not a traditional screening, as a shadow cast made up of Virago Alley members performed in front of the screen during all of the fencing scenes.
VCU associate professor, alum and vice president of Virago Alley, Bizhan Khodabandeh, played Inigo Montoya in the shadow cast. He was nervous in the days leading up to the show because of how complex the fencing scenes are in the movie. He is a huge fan of “The Princess Bride,” having fallen in love with it as a young child.
“What I love about ‘Princess Bride’ is it’s a movie for everybody,” Khodabandeh said. “It has a lot of comedy, it has romance, it has swashbuckling. It’s really a great balance of so many things and we’re pretty fortunate that it was made.”
Virago Alley revealed at the screening that they would soon teach weekly Historical European Martial Arts — or HEMA — combat training classes with Khodabandeh and Virago Alley member Patrick Glynn as instructors. They gave a demo on stage before the film started.
VCU has an active HEMA club that meets every week to teach students how to swordfight both causally and competitively. Their motto is “make new friends and stab them!” according to their Instagram bio.
Virago Alley also gave an exclusive first showing of the handcrafted sword that will be raffled off at the Richmond Ren Faire in April to fundraise money for the event. The sword was crafted using 8670 steel, a method that originated during World War II, and took over a year for Richmond bladesmith Join or Die Knives owner Brent Stubblefield to create.
Right before the film, there was a “Princess Bride” costume contest, in which attendees dressed up as their favorite character from the movie and had a chance to win two tickets to the Richmond Ren Faire as well as two tickets to AfterDark RVA’s upcoming events.
The contest was organized by cosplayer, VCU alum and Virago Alley board president Camille Trejo. Known as Chiara Scuro in the cosplay community, her first time watching “The Princess Bride” was at the Byrd as a college student, so she found the experience to be a full circle moment.
Trejo thinks people enjoy costuming in Renaissance wear because of the escapism and creativity it shows.
“A lot of it is exploring who you can be, how you would look as your favorite character,” Trejo said. “It’s just kind of nice to step into a different role.”
Attendee Daniel Martin went with his partner Jessie Boyd. He wanted to support the Richmond Ren Faire but had an ulterior motive.
“I wanted to do the costume contest because I’ve been told I vaguely look like Westley through most of my life. So I figured now is a good opportunity, I’m confident that I have a shot [to win],” Martin said.
Martin did, in fact, win the best Westley costume, the main character of the film, and won honorable mention in the whole contest.
Virago Alley’s managing director and VCU alum Ash Moore, hoped that people would come dressed in their best Ren Faire attire and let themselves feel and explore a childlike whimsy.
“That’s a huge part of what we’re doing, giving people an opportunity to step outside of their daily lives and have a little bit of escapism and embrace the parts of themselves that allow themselves to have fun and be silly,” Moore said. “I think that this event really lends to that as well.”
Virago Alley will host multiple more events leading up to the big Richmond Ren Faire on April 18 and 19, from 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. at Dorey Park. To learn more, visit their Instagram page at @rvarenfaire.