TLtS:Between and Betwixt

The poet Shakespeare said, “All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players.”[16] “The consecrated spot” cannot be formally distinguished from the playground. The arena, the card table, the magic circle, the temple, the stage, the screen, the tennis court, the court of justice… are all in form and function play-grounds, forbidden spots, isolated hedged around, hallowed…”[17] 

The great will not condescend to take any thing seriously; all must be as gay as the song of a canary.” [18] . “In all the wild imaginings of mythology a fanciful spirit is playing on the border line between jest and earnest… Conversely, no one is ever totally joking, there is always some degree of truth in their jest.

The Japanese language exhibits this concept in polite speech, the mode of address used in conversation with people of high rank. The convention is that higher classes merely play at all they do. The polite form for “you arrive in Tokyo” is literally “you play at arriving in Tokyo” And for “I hear you father is dead.”, “I hear that your father has played dying.” In other words, the revered person is imagined as living in an elevated sphere, where only pleasure or condescension moves on to action” -J.Huizinga-

[16] As You Like It, Shakespeare
[17] Homo Ludens, J.Huizinga
[18] Heroism by Ralph Waldo Emerson