The idea of a jig was to create an exciting ending to a play, complete with acrobatic dancing, singing, jokes, and general mayhem that playgoers loved, according to James Shapiro in his acclaimed book A Year in the Life of Shakespeare-1599.
Four men would usually take part in a production. This was eagerly anticipated by the audiences, who loved a starring clown like Will Kemp with his sidesplitting gestures, high-spirited singing, and titillating groping.
The concept of the clown goes back to concept of minstrels, rusticity, song and dance, and the Vice figure of morality drama, in addition to the Lord of Misrule. Clowns usually bantered and improvised with the audience, and often considered themselves the star of the show.
Jigs were really a scandalous aftermath about what happened after a marriage in a play; adultery, deception, irrepressible desire, and they tapped into libidinous feelings and anarchy.
Last Great Role for Kemp was Falstaff in Historical Play
The jig was up for Kemp after he appeared in a Shakespeare play as the character Falstaff in The Second Part of Henry the Fourth. Shakespeare did not write a part or allow a jig in his next play, Henry the Fifth, and Will Kemp left the company. Whether Kemp left because his part had been left out or some other reason, no one knows.
No doubt some audiences were disappointed, as Shapiro states that Kemp was the “undisputed master” of the jig, and by 1598, everywhere you turned in London you could hear “whores, beadles, bawds, and sergeants filthily chant Kemp’s jig.”
Words to Jigs Were Not Published and Many Playwrights Hated the Them
It is believed by some historians that there was a tacit agreement not to publish the words to the jigs by the playwrights and publishers, as virtually none have survived over the ages. And they were also resented by Shakespeare’s fellow playwrights such as Christopher Marlowe and Thomas Dekker, who disliked the bawdy songs that were often written by hack writers.
Shapiro Believes Social Class Separated Shakespeare and Kemp
One aspect of the rift between Shakespeare and Kemp was the culture gap between the two, the urban and sophisticated playwright versus the country hick, who was very much a the man of the people.
Shakespeare and Kemp made an odd pair, and were a study in contrasts. Shapiro states that Kemp was older by a decade, and was much tougher, possessed of great stamina, yet very graceful, and to play Falstaff, he had to wear specially made “giant hose.”
The only image of Kemp, a woodcut from 1600, shows a middle-aged man from the neck up with a beard and longish hair, but his body is that of a much younger man. Kemp is dressed in the traditional Morris dancer, and portrayed a rural bumpkin typically.
A Jig Would Not Work in Romeo and Juliet
One of the main objections Shakespeare had been that jigs hardly fit the somber climax of Romeo and Juliet, with the dead lovers sprawled on the stage.
In the end, Kemp drifted away to other companies, and tried to get a touring company started, but nothing worked, and he died penniless.
One effect of Shakespeare’s dramatic severance with such a popular actor and jig dancer was that he was now taking complete control of his plays, and could write in or out any part he did not like, such as a jig.
Afterward, Shakespeare’s name began to appear more and more prominently on the printed editions, and with the exception of his star actor, Richard Burbage, his actors became more anonymous.
By 1638, a play called Antipodes by Richard Brome ridiculed the clownish jig, and the tradition had all but vanished.
Shapiro, James, A Year in the Life of Shakespeare-1599, Harper Collins, 2005, 394 pp
ISBN 13 978-0-06-008873-6
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