Tewkesbury Medieval Festival 2014: The Jesters

 This year I had the chance to go back to the Tewkesbury Medieval Festival for the second time. Last year I joined a family from church in one of the hottest days of the Summer. I got some great shots of the battle re-enactment (click here to see those) so this year my dad joined me. I decided I wanted to get some different shots from last year.

We stopped by a small enclosure where some jesters were doing a show. It was brilliant in it's simple, funny humour and the tricks they did were pretty cool. Click here for their website.

The following photos are all from their show.

This is Baldwin the Fool and as his name suggests, he's the foolish one in the double act.

Danger & Comedy. Fire and more danger!!

Cigar Box Juggling!

Juggling clubs! Baldwin showing he can actually catch them!

To make sure it didn't get too boring, they swapped places once or twice, this time dancing across the grass.

Falling over and getting back up. Throwing things and possibly catching them and humour older than medieval times...

Fire sticks looking ominous for later in the show...

A little bit of Poi with Godfrey Pugh.

Baldwin looking like a child from the Harry Potter films waiting for his broom to fly into his hand...

Instructions on how to laugh at their jokes...

Working with the diabolos.

Waiting for the diabolo to come down. This was a bit of a tricky one due to the wind!

Diabolo running up and down the string.

The "Double Wow" trick.

Time for some danger!

Oh yes, ladies and gentlemen. He is juggling knives while balancing!

A bigger trick not on the balancing board!

Catching the knife behind the back!

Baldwin looking impressed...

Oh dear, he didn't catch it right...

Time for some matrix-style fixing up of the trick...

"I wish you hadn't done that..."

Baldwin acting the fool during the synchronised juggling...

Proving that he can juggle.

Doing "trick # 1", spinning around the fingers!

Under the legs!

Behind the back, I think!

Baldwin dropped his club...

Which gave him the opportunity to show the audience how a juggler picks up a dropped club...

He bends down and picks it up.

A neat little trick to get a volunteer is used throughout performances at the festival. Ask an audience member's name and tell them to put their hand up. "Look, we have a willing volunteer." So this guy was the "willing volunteer" to stand between the two jesters while they tossed their clubs in front and behind him. Their aim: to knock that little white stick from his lips.

Baldwin hit the volunteer on the shoulder on his first shot.

Applause and "volunteer" makes his move off the stage. "Where do you think you're going?"

Yes, that is REAL FIRE!

And before they can do their REAL FIRE juggling trick, they need to warm their hands up... Ha Ha.

Statue of Liberty anyone?!

Very brave (or perhaps scared stiff!) volunteer.

Baldwin catching all 6.

And that was the end of the show. At least for those who weren't actually watching Baldwin... He had all 6 torches and had to extinguish them...

But every time he blew one out on his right hand he would then lift those torches in the air while he blew out a torch from his left hand, only to have the extinguished torch to light again on his right hand! I think this went on for a good 2 minutes and multiple tries with comic disappointed, confused and self-satisfied expressions on his face.

Blowing out the last torch.

This time he glared at it to make sure it didn't relight!

And that was the end of the jester show.

After the show everyone made their way to the main field where the battle would take place, to watch the falconry display and then the battle!

I hope these have inspired some people to join the fun next year. There are more photos of the entire event on the Tewkesbury Medieval Festival Flickr Page

Click the links to see my photos on The Falconry and The Battle