shakespeare + juggling

[le pire]

ok here's a question you RenFest guys might be able to answer. Are any characters in shakespeare's plays jugglers, and / or does the Bard ever mention jugglers in any way shape or form?

Thanks,


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[Stephon]

Did a quick online search of the Complete Works and this was the only hit:


King Henry VIII
Act 1, Scene 3

Chamberlain: Is't possible the spells of France should juggle
Men into such strange mysteries?

[Neil Brown]

Le Pire,
I'm not sure that these are mentioned in words, but you could try looking at the character of the "Clown" in "Othello"- although he deals with irony, puns and sarcasm, and possible someone in "A Midsummer Night's Dream"- there must be a juggler in there somewhere.
Neil

[young raoul]

a number of years ago I had the bizarre experience of acting in the local production of Hamlet starring Keanu Reeves as the melancholy most excellent dane (or dude, as the case may be). The director, after placing down his gas-soaked rag, had the idea of having "the players", of which I was one, as jugglers - passing torches over a divan as the "play within the play" was performed. I clearly recall, however, the phrase "I will not be juggled with" from the text - it was either Claudius or Hamlet who said it. In retrospect, I should have got the line because the guy I was passing with "would not be juggled with" as said flames didst render him scared shitless...

effluvio

[Stephon]

You are absolutely right, about Hamlet--
Hamlet, Prince of Denmark
Act 4, Scene 5

LAERTES How came he dead? I'll not be juggled with:


It seems the search engine I used is word specific instead of finding forms of a word. To that end, I found:

Juggler--
The Comedy of Errors
Act 5, Scene 1

OF EPHESUS <snip> They brought one Pinch, a hungry lean-faced villain,
A mere anatomy, a mountebank,
A threadbare juggler and a fortune-teller,
A needy, hollow-eyed, sharp-looking wretch,
A dead-looking man


A Midsummer Night's Dream
Act 3, Scene 2

HERMIA O me! you juggler! you canker-blossom!


Jugglers--
The Comedy of Errors
Act 1, Scene 2

OF SYRACUSE <snip> They say this town is full of cozenage,
As, nimble jugglers that deceive the eye,


Juggling--
King Henry VI, Part i
Act 5, Scene 4

YORK She and the Dauphin have been juggling:
I did imagine what would be her refuge.


King John
Act 3, Scene 1

KING JOHN <snip> This juggling witchcraft with revenue cherish,
Yet I alone, alone do me oppose
Against the pope and count his friends my foes.


Troilus and Cressida
Act 2, Scene 3

THERSITES Here is such patchery, such juggling and such
knavery!

Act 5, Scene 2

THERSITES A juggling trick,--to be secretly open.


Macbeth
Act 5, Scene 8

MACBETH <snip> And be these juggling fiends no more believed,
That palter with us in a double sense;

Hamlet
Act 6, Scene 30

POLONIUS Nice jugs!

(Bad quarto! No biscuit!)

[Triona]

Hi guys,

Please keep in mind that the term "juggling" in medieval times quite often refered to "the manipulation of objects". This included things like sleight of hand tricks in magic. The term "magic" wasn't used because it was associated with witch craft and would get you burnt at the stake.

A medieval jongleur was someone who was an acrobat, comediene, juggler, magician, etc. He would usually travel with a troubador to fill in the gaps between sets, cover for unexpected problems (broken lutes strings, etc.) or if the crowd didn't like the singer. A court jester was usually a jongleur who landed a patron and gave up the road show.

A good deal of Shakespeare's references to jugglers were actual describing the jongleur.

If you need a more intense history, E-mail me privately and I can get you in contact with one of the few Fool's Academys active in the U.S. My partner, Pokie-Poke, is one of the instructors. They are part of the Society for Creative Anachronism which is a non-profit educational organization that studies Europe from 420 CE to 1600 CE (or there abouts).

<img src="graemlins/jester.gif" border="0" alt="[jester]" />

[Rich Potter]

And please keep in mind that largely in Shakespeare's works, when he uses the word, "clown", he didn't mean it in the modern sense. "Clown" in Shakespeare's works refers to a country bumpkin. A rube. A Billy-Bob, so to speak.

That is, until Macbeth (I think it's Macbeth) where there's a scene with the king's fool and a country bumpkin. The fool remarks that he and the clown (bumpkin) are the same (I paraphrase); and another character remarks, "no; you are under contract."

Or maybe it was Lear.
--Rich

[le pire]

Please keep in mind that no self respecting juggler in modern day France would ever refer to themselves as a "jongleur" and certainly not "extrordinaire."

Actually "self respecting" and "juggler" do not belong in the same sentence...


é t i e n n e

[Triona]

Etienne,

My partner is not doing a modern juggler. He is recreating a medieval character. A modern juggler referring to himself as a jongleur would not be accurate anyway.

<img src="graemlins/jester.gif" border="0" alt="[jester]" />

[le pire]

Since when has the SCA, known for their foam covered swords, been concerned about historical correctness? What does that "A" stand for? emmm hmmmm.

I used to juggle at SCA "events" at libraries and the like a few years ago just to practice and I was always amazed at how jumbled all their "history" was and how they distinctly ignored cultural and geographical barriers just so they could parade around in some half baked costume they clearly made from Jo-Ann fabric's floor sweepings. I'll never forget the guy in the plastic toys-R-us crown. I thought it had to be a piss-take, but oh no, he declared himself "king."

I'm not so extremist to think that SCA is evil, and that they're INTENTIONALLY making a mockery of uk/european history... It's just that most of these people are incredibly BORING. I saw a guy do a yo-yo act at one of these things. He put us all to sleep telling us about the evolution of the yo-yo throughout the centuries. He went on for 15 minutes before he did a single trick, by that time it was too late, we where headed for the door. He was like a history teacher trying to be "cool." Sorry man, nerd is nerd!

And ANOTHER thing, most of these people have never even been to europe / UK on vacation; that just seems "wrong" to me. I took a french class in college for an easy A and I was shocked that not only did the teacher not speak French, she had been here only twice. She had no intrinsic understanding of what she was teaching; any wank can memorize a vocab list... it takes someone truly french to make you suffer through a "dicté," or passionately euphemise on the importance of the moldy rind on camenbert cheese. Using a typical french strategy, the students united against her, we went on strike, filed a massive grievance and got her fired.

So coming back to the SCA...

Put the magic cards down, son, nice and easy... that's good. Ok we're going to bring you back to the real world now... It'll be alright, won't hurt a bit.

by the way, is "Pokie Poke" a historical name, or is it refering to something else? [img]biggrin.gif[/img]


bisous,

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