Magic on the early English stage / Philip Butterworth.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Butterworth, Philip.

Contributor:

Horace Howard Furness Memorial Fund.

Horace Howard Furness Memorial Library (University of Pennsylvania)

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Magic tricks--England--History.

Magic tricks.

Theater--England--History.

Theater.

History.

England.

Physical Description:

xxii, 295 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, UK ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 2005.

Summary:

Magic on the Early English Stage investigates the performance of magical tricks, illusions, effects and their staged appearance in the medieval and early English theatre. Performers who created such magic were not known as conjurors, as we might refer to them today, but as jugglers. Records concerning jugglers on the medieval stage have been hitherto misunderstood or misapplied. These references to jugglers are re-examined in the light of discussions of 'feats of activity' that also include tumbling, vaulting and 'dancing on the rope'; appearances and disappearances of the 'Now you see it, now you don't' variety and stage versions of these concepts; magic through sound in terms of ventriloquy and sound through pipes; mechanical images and puppets; and stage tricks. Information that has remained dormant since original publication is discussed in relation to jugglers such as Thomas Brandon, the King's Juggler, and William Vincent, alias 'Hocus Pocus'.

Contents:

1 Jugglers: the creators of magic 7

2 Feats of activity: juggling, tumbling and dancing on the rope 26

3 Conveyance and confederacy 49

4 Appearances and disappearances 74

5 Magic through sound: illusion, deception and agreed pretence 98

6 Mechanical images, automata, puppets and motions 113

7 Substitution 140

8 Stage tricks 159

Appendix 1 Edward Melton's text (1681) 195

Appendix 2 Wily Beguild (1606) 200

Appendix 3 Beggars' Bush (1622) 202

Appendix 4 The Knave in Graine (1640) 204.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 261-290) and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Horace Howard Furness Memorial Fund.

ISBN:

052182513X

OCLC:

58563159

Publisher Number:

9780521825139 (hbk.)