Martial's Juggler

Marital was a Roman author of the first through to second century AD. He wrote  a considerable number of epigrams, covering a wide range of subjects. In this epigram he describes a young juggler juggling a small shield. While I have never seen anyone juggling a shield, I have seen a juggler juggle a tea tray in the way described. Unfortunately, YouTube does not have an example specifically of that so I chose an example of non-ball type juggling by Mat Ricardo, juggling a cane and then a hat. 

From the Loeb edition of 1920.
Martial, volume II
Book 9, epigram 38.

Summa licet velox, Agathine, pericula ludus,
non tamen efficies ut tibi parma cadat.
nolentem sequitur tenuisque reversa per auras
vel pede vel tergo, crine vel ungue sedet;
lubrica Corycio quamvis sint pulpita nimbo
et rapiant celeres vela negata Noti,
secures pueri neglecta perambulat artus,
et nocet artifici ventus et unda nihil.
ut peccare velis, cum feceris omnia, falli
non potes: arte opus est ut tibi parma cadat.

Although, Agathinus, you deftly play a game of highest risk, yet you will not achieve the falling of your shield. Though you avoid it, it follows you, and, returning through the yielding air, settles on foot or back, on hair or finger-tip. However slippery is the stage with a Corycian saffron-shower, and although rushing winds tear at the awning that cannot be spread, the shield though disregarded, pervades the boy's careless limbs, and wind and shower baffle the artist no whit. Although you try to miss, do what you will, you cannot be foiled: art is needed to make your shield fall.

Street Acts on The South Bank

London has always been a place for street entertainers to perform. Certain areas, such as Covent Garden or the South Bank, have earned a good reputation for street acts and I went to the South Bank last week to watch the acts (again). There is a mix of good and bad, as there is in any place that has street acts, but in this case the bad are truly abysmal.

The trend for living statues seems to be prevalent in most cities; South Bank is no different, the problem is that all but three acts were living statues. That is where the truly abysmal were to be found. Some people who, judging from the way they were behaving, were obviously not performers of any kind were simply wearing fancy dress and standing by a bowl or container waiting to be given money. The downside to people doing that is twofold. Firstly, it uses a location that should be filled by a genuine street performer. Secondly, the somewhat less than friendly and sometimes very direct demand of ‘give me money’ when there has been no talent or performance on display to reward, undermines the ‘good will’ that has to exist between street acts and the general public; without that good will, people are less inclined to stand and watch an act and less inclined to give money if they do stay and watch.

A genuine performer doing a living statue act remains immobile when approached. If money is dropped in the money tin or hat, the performer may then do some form of movement in acknowledgement.


Here is a photo of a performer who does just that.

She remained absolutely still while people queued to have their photograph taken beside her. If someone dropped money into her bowl, she performed a series of bows in a robotic fashion, as if she was some kind of Victorian mechanical automaton. If no money was given, she stayed motionless in accordance to the role she had given herself. There is no attempt to badger people to give money. (I have referred to this performer as ‘she’, but under the very good quality costume and make-up there might have been a man!)

In contrast to this, the ‘fake’ performers immediately draw attention to their money bowl when anyone goes near them or looks in their direction. They can also be awkward about letting someone take a photograph if they have not been given any money.

Another good performer was dressed as Charlie Chaplin. He drew quite a crowd and gave an entertaining, humorous show. Not far away, three men gave a slightly unstructured performance of juggling and contortionism; nevertheless, they put on a good show which attracted a large audience. A forth crowd-puller was a living statue, a wizard, who moved in response to fun music.

It is in watching the good street acts, the genuine performers who have put effort and talent into developing an act, that makes me wish that the ‘waste of space’ performers, who are merely begging in disguise and not performing, could be moved on; that would make room for more genuine performers – which might provide more variety of acts on the South Bank.

Here is a selection of some of the photographs I took when walking along the South Bank.



Here are two members of the juggling and contortionist act. The majority of the people watching them were next to me on the pavement. Bizarrely, no one chose to stand on the grass to watch them, despite people jostling each other trying to get a good view. The large metal bowl that the contortionst is being carried in, was the same bowl used after the act to collect money.

Here is another picture of the excellent street performer mentioned above. For the first photo, I had to wait ages for her to be alone so I could take the picture. Tourists were gathered in front of her, waiting to have their photograph taken with her. I held my camera in position, hoping for a moment long enough to take the photo as one person walked away and another stepped up for a photo. After that, I gave up and just took pictures with the crowd in shot.

Here is a photo of someone wearing what looks like an outfit from a fancy dress shop and hoping to be mistaken for a street performer. The body language says it all. Do you consider this a performance? Would you give money to him?



Far more effort went into this; I did not have an opportunity to see how the performer interacts with a member of the public.



The 'Rocking' wizard who danced to some very pleasantly weird upbeat music. He is situated very near to the London Eye.

Caught in the (street) Act!

A quiet day out in Jill’s favourite city, Bath Spa, seemed like a good idea. What could possibly happen to interrupt the pleasant, tranquil feeling obtained by strolling through the historic streets, taking in the splendour of the architecture and the beauty of the parks, enjoying lunch by the riverside, and more?

Well, I spotted a street performer in the area in front of the Abbey, over by the Pump Rooms. Jill wasn’t keen; she was worried about being asked to join in. I said it would be okay, it wouldn’t happen, and that we’d enjoy seeing the act. So we went over. It was a comedy juggling act and was just starting.

Jill was chosen as one of the three people to hold flaming torches. The three of them were required, at the right moment, to throw the torches at the juggler; he would catch them, without burning himself, and begin juggling them. Jill was very concerned about being involved. Jill, almost as shy as me, found it uncomfortable being picked out and she was also worried about being responsible for causing a juggler to be burned alive. I reassured her that no one would get hurt and in regards to assisting the act I asked “How bad can it get?”

Minutes later I was picked out along with another man. We were made to put on pink ballet tutus and pose in suitable ballet positions before holding steady a very tall unicycle. The juggler asked us to rip off his trousers; we did so as the juggler threw off his jacket and revealed that underneath he was wearing a pink leotard. Putting on a matching pink crash helmet he leapt up the length of the unicycle onto the seat. The other man was then allowed to take off his tutu and go back into the audience. My ordeal continued for a while longer. I haven’t described the full act here. If you can get there, it’s worth seeing. Just don’t stand in the front row of the audience unless you’re keen to end up as part of the entertainment.

After the show Jill spent a lot of time laughing at what I went through. I didn’t mind. It was fun but I still would have preferred to watch rather then participate.

As summer approaches, more and more street acts will begin to appear in Bath Spa. The most active time will be around the end of May and early June. This will be the annual Bath Fringe Festival. All sorts of acts will be performing on the streets, in pubs, in clubs and theatres. You can found out more nearer the time by going to the Bath Fringe website.

http://www.bathfringe.co.uk/

Since first composing this blog I've discovered the name of the street entertainer; it is Jon Duz.