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Shakespeare plays JOAN OF ARC on stage


A view of the stage, with a sign telling us that we are in Joan's tent; lighted candles indicate that it is night.  Shakespeare is centre-stage, performing as  Joan dressed in medieval armour.  He looks anxiously at three demons (each dressed in a red devil-suit and wielding a short trident) who have appeared out of a smoking trap-door, and who are now dancing about the stage in impish fashion

JOAN Now help, ye charming spells and chants,
And ye, choice spirits that admonish me,
And give me signs of future accidents.
You speedy helpers, that are servants
Under the lordly monarch of the north,
Appear, and aid me in this enterprise.

[Enter fiends]

Now, ye familiar spirits, that are called
Out of the powerful regions under earth,
Help me this once, that France may get the field.

[They walk, and speak not. They depart]

See, they forsake me.

Henry VI part 1, Act 5 Scene 2


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