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The Roman Actor
''The Roman Actor'' is a Caroline era stage play, a tragedy written by Philip Massinger. It was first performed in 1626, and first published in 1629. A number of critics have agreed with its author, and judged it one of Massinger's best plays. Performance The play was licensed for performance by Sir Henry Herbert, the Master of the Revels, on 11 October 1626, and performed later that year by the King's Men at the Blackfriars Theatre. Joseph Taylor, then the company's leading man, played the role of Paris, the title character. There is no record of another production of the play till 1692, when Thomas Betterton played Paris in a production by the United Company. The play was performed again in 1722 at Lincoln's Inn Fields. After that date the complete play fell out of fashion, though many actors, starting with John Philip Kemble in 1781, performed Paris's defense of the acting profession in Act I, scene 3 "as a short dramatic show-piece". Kemble also cut Massinger's text down t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Roman Actor
''The Roman Actor'' is a Caroline era stage play, a tragedy written by Philip Massinger. It was first performed in 1626, and first published in 1629. A number of critics have agreed with its author, and judged it one of Massinger's best plays. Performance The play was licensed for performance by Sir Henry Herbert, the Master of the Revels, on 11 October 1626, and performed later that year by the King's Men at the Blackfriars Theatre. Joseph Taylor, then the company's leading man, played the role of Paris, the title character. There is no record of another production of the play till 1692, when Thomas Betterton played Paris in a production by the United Company. The play was performed again in 1722 at Lincoln's Inn Fields. After that date the complete play fell out of fashion, though many actors, starting with John Philip Kemble in 1781, performed Paris's defense of the acting profession in Act I, scene 3 "as a short dramatic show-piece". Kemble also cut Massinger's text down t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thomas May
Thomas May (1594/95 – 13 November 1650) was an English poet, dramatist and historian of the Renaissance era. Early life and career until 1630 May was born in Mayfield, Sussex, the son of Sir Thomas May, a minor courtier. He matriculated at Sidney Sussex, Cambridge, graduating B.A. in 1613. He wrote his first published poem while at Cambridge, an untitled three-stanza contribution to the University's memorial collection of poems on the death of Henry Prince of Wales in 1612.''Epicedium Cantabrigiense in obitum immaturum & semper deflendum, Henrici ...'' (Cambridge: 1612), p.103 Although the majority of this volume's poems are in Latin, May's (along with a few others) is in English. It uses the trope of Pythagorean transmigration, which he re-employs in later works. Acquaintance with Carew, Massinger and Jonson In 1615 May registered as a lawyer at Gray's Inn in London. There is no record of what he did for the next five years. During the 1620s May was associated with drama ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Domitian
Domitian (; la, Domitianus; 24 October 51 – 18 September 96) was a Roman emperor who reigned from 81 to 96. The son of Vespasian and the younger brother of Titus, his two predecessors on the throne, he was the last member of the Flavian dynasty. Described as "a ruthless but efficient autocrat", his authoritarian style of ruling put him at sharp odds with the Senate, whose powers he drastically curtailed. Domitian had a minor and largely ceremonial role during the reigns of his father and brother. After the death of his brother, Domitian was declared emperor by the Praetorian Guard. His 15-year reign was the longest since that of Tiberius. As emperor, Domitian strengthened the economy by revaluing the Roman coinage, expanded the border defenses of the empire, and initiated a massive building program to restore the damaged city of Rome. Significant wars were fought in Britain, where his general Agricola attempted to conquer Caledonia (Scotland), and in Dacia, where Do ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Picture (Massinger Play)
''The Picture'' is a Caroline era stage play, a tragicomedy written by Philip Massinger, and first published in 1630. The play was licensed for performance by Sir Henry Herbert, the Master of the Revels, on 8 June 1629; it was acted by the King's Men at both of their theatres, the Globe and the Blackfriars. The play was published in quarto the following year; Massinger dedicated the work to the members of the Inner Temple. The play was popular and highly regarded in its own era; in 1650 Richard Washington wrote an elegy on Massinger in his own copy of the quarto of ''The Picture.'' Massinger's sources for his plot were the 28th novel in Volume 2 of ''The Palace of Pleasure'' (1567) by William Painter, and an anonymous English translation of ''The Theatre of Honour and Knighthood'' (1623) by André Favyn. Cast The 1630 quarto contains an unusually full cast list of the original King's Men's production of the play: The list is informative on the state of the King's Men co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alexander Gough
Alexander Gough ( fl. 1626 – 1655), also Goughe or Goffe, was an English actor in the Caroline era. He started out as a boy player filling female roles; during the period of the English Civil War and the Interregnum (1642–1660) when the theatres were closed and actors out of work, Gough became involved in the publication of plays. Alexander Gough was born in 1614, the son of Robert Gough, an actor with the King's Men. Like some other sons of actors (Theophilus Bird; Robert Pallant), Gough started acting as a boy — in his case, with his father's company. Alexander Gough played: * Caenis in Massinger's '' The Roman Actor'', 1626 * Acanthe in Massinger's '' The Picture'', 1629 * Eurinia in Wilson's '' The Swisser'', 1631 * Lillia-Bianca in Fletcher's ''The Wild Goose Chase'', the 1632 revival. Gough also had roles in Ford's '' The Lover's Melancholy'' (1628) and Clavell's ''The Soddered Citizen'' (1630). Gough remained with the company at least until 163 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Honyman
John Honyman (1613 – April 1636), also Honeyman, Honiman, Honnyman, or other variants, was an English actor of the Caroline era. He was a member of the King's Men, the most prominent playing company of its era, best known as the company of William Shakespeare and Richard Burbage. Honyman belonged to the generation that followed Shakespeare and Burbage. He was christened on 7 February 1613, in the parish of St. Botolph's, Bishopsgate. An apprentice of John Shank, he started his career as a boy player filling female roles; in his teens he was playing leading female parts, Domitilla in '' The Roman Actor'' (1626) and Sophia in '' The Picture'' (1629), both plays by Philip Massinger, and Clarinda in Lodowick Carlell's '' The Deserving Favourite'' (also 1629). Some boy actors of Honyman's era made successful transitions from filling lead female roles as boys to lead male roles as young men; Stephen Hammerton and Richard Sharpe are two examples of this successful transitio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cousin-german
Most generally, in the lineal kinship system used in the English-speaking world, a cousin is a type of Kinship, familial relationship in which two relatives are two or more familial generations away from their most recent common ancestor. Commonly, "cousin" refers to a first cousin – a Kinship, relative of the same generation whose most recent common ancestor with the subject is a grandparent. Degrees and removals are separate measures used to more precisely describe the relationship between cousins. ''Degree'' measures the separation, in generations, from the most recent common ancestor(s) to a parent of one of the cousins (whichever is closest), while ''removal'' measures the difference in generations between the cousins themselves, relative to their most recent common ancestor(s). To illustrate usage, a second cousin is a cousin with a ''degree'' of two; there are three (not two) generations from the common ancestor(s). When the degree is not specified, first cousin is a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Thompson (actor)
John Thompson (died December 1634) was a noted boy player acting women's roles in English Renaissance theatre. He served in the King's Men, the acting troupe formerly of William Shakespeare and Richard Burbage. Thompson's career is notable for his length. Some boy actors, like John Honyman and Stephen Hammerton, filled female roles for only three to five years before switching to male roles; others, like Richard Sharpe, appear to have continued in women's roles for a decade. Thompson is known to have played women for at least ten years, if not more. Beginnings Thompson began as an apprentice of veteran comedian and teacher John Shank. In 1636, Shank claimed in legal testimony to have spent £40 to acquire Thompson as an apprentice. (Apprentices' contracts were sometimes purchased from their "masters," as with the case of Stephen Hammerton.) According to the cast list in the 1623 first edition of Webster's ''The Duchess of Malfi'', Thompson played Julia, the "Cardinals Mis." T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
King's Men Personnel
King's Men personnel were the people who worked with and for the Lord Chamberlain's Men and the King's Men (for all practical purposes a single continuous theatrical enterprise) from 1594 to 1642 (and after). The company was the major theatrical enterprise of its era and featured some of the leading actors of their generation – Richard Burbage, John Lowin, and Joseph Taylor among other – and some leading clowns and comedians, like Will Kempe and Robert Armin. The company benefitted from the services of William Shakespeare, John Fletcher, and Philip Massinger as regular dramatists. The actors who performed the plays have left the most evidence of their lives and activities; but they were supported by musicians and other functionaries, and were enabled by managers and financial backers like Cuthbert Burbage. For more information on specific individuals, see individual entries: Robert Armin, Christopher Beeston, Robert Benfield, etc. Terms * "Sharer" – an actor who was ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Richard Robinson (17th-century Actor)
Richard Robinson (died March 1648) was an actor in English Renaissance theatre and a member of Shakespeare's company the King's Men. Biography Robinson started out as a boy player with the company; in 1611 he played the Lady in their production of ''The Second Maiden's Tragedy.'' He was cast in their production of Ben Jonson's ''Catiline'' in the same year, and in their '' Bonduca,'' c. 1613. He became a sharer in the King's Men in 1619, perhaps succeeding Richard Cowley; and he was cast in their revival of Webster's ''The Duchess of Malfi'' c. 1621. Robinson reportedly played the part of Wittipol in Jonson's '' The Devil is an Ass'' in 1616. In the printed text of that play (1631), Jonson praises Robinson's acting of female roles and calls him an "ingenious youth." Robinson played the role of Aesopus in the company's 1626 production of Massinger's '' The Roman Actor,'' and Count Orsinio in Lodowick Carlell's '' The Deserving Favourite'' (1629). Robinson is included in the ca ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eliard Swanston
Eliard Swanston (died 1651), alternatively spelled Heliard, Hilliard, Elyard, Ellyardt, Ellyaerdt, and Eyloerdt, was an English actor in the Caroline era. He became a leading man in the King's Men, the company of William Shakespeare and Richard Burbage, in the final phase of its existence. Career Swanston started his acting career with Prince Charles's Men around 1620. In 1622 he moved to the Lady Elizabeth's Men, and two years later transferred to the King's Men. He may have been brought into that company to replace the veteran John Underwood, who died in 1624. By 1631 he had acquired a role in the management of the company, along with Joseph Taylor and John Lowin; the three men received the company's payments for their performances at Court. In some cases, Swanston was the sole payee for the King's Men's Court performances; he received sums of £120 (February 1632), £270 (March 1633), and £220 (April 1634), and other amounts, in trust for the company. Being a leader was not ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robert Benfield
Robert Benfield (died July 1649) was a seventeenth-century actor, noted for his longtime membership in the King's Men in the years and decades after William Shakespeare's retirement and death. Nothing is known of Benfield's early life. He was most likely with the Lady Elizabeth's Men in 1613, and acted in their productions of Fletcher's ''The Coxcomb'' and the Fletcher/Massinger play ''The Honest Man's Fortune'' in that year. Benfield soon joined the King's Men, possibly to replace William Ostler, who died unexpectedly in December 1614. He acted in the company's production of John Webster's ''The Duchess of Malfi'' c. 1621. He was a shareholder in the company by 1619, when he is listed in the renewed patent for the King's Men issued in that year. Benfield also eventually became a sharer in both the Globe and Blackfriars theatres, but only after a conflict: in 1635 he was one of three King's Men (the others were Thomas Pollard and Eliard Swanston) who petitioned the Lord Chamber ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
