Review of Magic on the Early English Stage.(Book review)

Philip Butterworth. Magic on the Early English Stage. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2005. xxii+295pp. ISBN: 978-0521825139.

Andrew D. McCarthy

Washington State University

andrew mccarthy@wsu.edu

Andrew D. McCarthy. "Review of Philip Butterworth, Magic on the Early English Stage."Early Modern Literary Studies 13.3 (January, 2008) 11.1-6 .

In the prefatory note to Magic on the Early English Stage, Philip Butterworth provides a disclaimer of sorts. He explains that though some stage tricks and illusions are discussed within the pages of his study, it does not necessarily mean they work or have worked in the past. These "performers' tricks" are evaluated not on their own efficacy but as evidence of "ingenuity, insight, lateral thinking and guile." He also notes, "References to the 'stage' in this book are concerned with both the physical stage and that performance space created by the ambit that surrounds the performer, whether he be actor or juggler" (xix). Given that this is a book about stage magic, it seems only fair that the artistry and performance be examined as closely as the illusions themselves. Butterworth's willingness to evenly explore the wide variety of techniques and performers of magic on the English stage results in a study that is both informative and compelling.

Before stage magic can be studied, stage magic must be defined. Butterworth's introduction provides a number of helpful definitions, a project he continues in the final chapter, "Terminology." The juggler is central to the first pages of this monograph because the author identifies that figure as central to magic and the early English stage. Drawing on medieval definitions in the OED, Butterworth explains that jugglers are those who perform magical tricks. Though he recognizes "conjurer" has become the modern equivalent, the author is quick to point out that this term was not used to describe sleight-of-hand performers until the nineteenth century. Butterworth then provides examples of jugglers themselves, noting that evidence regarding these provocative figures can be found in scattered records of payment, or even detailed and vivid eye-witness accounts of performances. Interweaving these source materials, Butterworth recounts the work of Thomas Brandon, the King's juggler from 1517/18-1540/1 and William Vincent, alias "Hocus Pocus" and author of Hocus Pocus Iunior, an important early work on magic. Drawing on another important work from the period, Butterworth makes excellent use of Reginald Scot's Discouerie of witchcraft by revealing the ways in which Scot used the example of jugglers and their acts to dismiss witchcraft as superstition.