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MULTIMEDIA Video:  The Underbelly Tour: Trollops, spies, flirting and the real history of Portsmouth

“I’ll make a man out of you,” Minerva gushes as she moves in on an unsuspecting young man on the corner of State and Congress streets, flaunting her bosom in front of his face, which holds a strategically placed dollar. She is hoping that dollar will grow and welcomes male givers to place their tip in the appropriate spot.

Her partner in crime for the next hour, Silas Dean, takes a short break from perusing with the ladies on the street to warn the young man to keep his eyes up.

“We’re getting ready to have some fun,” Minerva shouts.

Minerva is a tavern wench who, at one time, ran a tavern where the salt piles now rest called “The Bunches of Grapes Tavern.” She has been dead for 300 years and over that time Silas jokes with her that she has had everybody in Portsmouth.

Silas is an accused spy from Connecticut who insists all his accusers are liars. He says Boston is always taking the credit for being the first settled, but in fact, Plymouth was settled in 1620 and Portsmouth in 1623. During Silas’ time, Portsmouth already housed 11 pubs and he says, “If you wanted to pray, you went to Plymouth. If you wanted to party, you came to Portsmouth.”

Silas and Minerva know all the nitty-gritty history of Portsmouth, the stuff you never hear about, filled with murder, spies, and whores, and they aren’t afraid to share it with you. Tonight they are leading “The Underbelly Tour: Trollops, Spies, and Spirits, Oh My!” around town, starting in front of the Rusty Hammer and finishing at Prescott Park. Their tour is one designed to take the bore away from history and fill tour members in on the grittier history of Portsmouth.

The two make a disclaimer before their adventure begins that it is an interactive tour (and they expect your participation). They will flirt and they will swear, but the history is completely accurate. “We’re interpreting history,” Silas says. “Everything we say, other than the flirting, is accurate.” The tour is not for the young or those who blush easy or are offended by harsh language or sexual humor.

That being said, it is an absolute riot, not to mention fascinating. During the hour, the group learns not only about the personalities and lives of Minerva and Silas, but also previously unmentioned factoids of Portsmouth’s women, poets, and governors.

They learn through the hysterical antics of the loud, obnoxious, and bossy Minerva, the wench, and Silas, the woman seeking flirt, who loves to prance. The two love to include audience members by asking them questions and demanding answers, and when they give the wrong answers, Silas enjoys making them prance telling them that they came on this tour because they don’t know everything. “I don’t know everything, I don’t know everything,” he sings while prancing along.

“The Underbelly Tour” pranced its way onto the streets of Portsmouth in May 2005 thanks to Laura Pope and George Hosker, who played Silas tonight. Hosker said the idea came about from all the other historical tours in Portsmouth that he says are stuffy and boring. He says he wanted to make a tour about all the “tids and bits” of Portsmouth that aren’t talked about on others.

Laura Pope, a writing partner of Hosker’s, researched and wrote for the tour that covers years from 1620 to 1950. Hosker said Pope brought historians on board and then actors were found to play the characters.

Marian Marangelli, who played Minerva the tavern wench on the tour tonight, said she jumped at the opportunity to be a part of the tour as soon as she heard there were two writers doing a raunchy tour of Portsmouth. “Write me in. Bring it on,” she said.

Hosker says each night of the tour is different. He says there is a ton of improvisation depending on the night and the different characters involved. You might come across Minnie the tavern wench, Gov. John Langdon, or Clive the grave digger.

But no matter who the characters for the night are, members of the tour are always in for unheard of history along with raunchy comedy. Hosker says he likes to use a little slogan when referring to the tour, “The history is correct. The flirting is contagious.”

The 17th annual Chilifest will heat up on Sept. 30. Bring your Rolaids and your sense of fun!