The King's Revels Children or Children of the King's Revels were a troupe of actors, or

playing company Play is a range of intrinsically motivated activities done for recreational pleasure and enjoyment. Play is commonly associated with children and juvenile-level activities, but may be engaged in at any life stage, and among other higher-functio ...

, in

Jacobean era The Jacobean era was the period in English and Scottish history that coincides with the reign of James VI of Scotland who also inherited the crown of England in 1603 as James I. The Jacobean era succeeds the Elizabethan era and precedes the Ca ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, active in the 1607-9 period. They were part of a fashion for

child actors The term child actor or child actress is generally applied to a child acting on stage or in movies or television. An adult who began their acting career as a child may also be called a child actor, or a "former child actor". Closely associated t ...

that peaked in the first decade of the seventeenth century, with the

Children of Paul's The Children of Paul's was the name of a troupe of boy actors in Elizabethan and Jacobean London. Along with the Children of the Chapel, they were an important component of the companies of boy players that constituted a distinctive feature of E ...

and the

Children of the Chapel The Children of the Chapel are the boys with unbroken voices, choristers, who form part of the Chapel Royal, the body of singers and priests serving the spiritual needs of their sovereign wherever they were called upon to do so. They were overseen ...

. The King's Revels Children are sometimes called the King's Revels Company, though this title leaves them liable to be confused with a similarly named troupe, primarily of adult actors, most active in the years around 1630. To avoid this confusion, some scholars prefer to identify the early company specifically as a company of children, and to call the later group the King's Revels Men.Gurr, p. 232. The King's Revels Children were founded in 1607 by a partnership between the poet and playwright

Michael Drayton Michael Drayton (1563 – 23 December 1631) was an English poet who came to prominence in the Elizabethan era. He died on 23 December 1631 in London. Early life Drayton was born at Hartshill, near Nuneaton, Warwickshire, England. Almost nothin ...

and Thomas Woodford, nephew of the playwright

Thomas Lodge Thomas Lodge (c. 1558September 1625) was an English writer and medical practitioner whose life spanned the Elizabethan and Jacobean periods. Biography Thomas Lodge was born about 1558 in West Ham, the second son of Sir Thomas Lodge, Lo ...

, who later sold shares in the enterprise and took on other partners. The boys acted at the

Whitefriars Theatre The Whitefriars Theatre was a theatre in Jacobean London, in existence from 1608 to the 1620s — about which only limited and sometimes contradictory information survives. Location The Whitefriars district was outside the medieval city walls o ...

in London (Woodford was one of the theatre's leaseholders), performing the same type of repertory as the other child companies of the day. The Children of Paul's had ceased active dramatic performance a year earlier, in 1606; some scholars have theorized that the King's Revels Children absorbed some personnel from the Children of Paul's, though this cannot be said with certainty. William Barkstead, a playwright, poet, and actor who later worked with the

Lady Elizabeth's Men The Lady Elizabeth's Men, or Princess Elizabeth's Men, was a company of actors in Jacobean London, formed under the patronage of King James I's daughter Princess Elizabeth. From 1618 on, the company was called The Queen of Bohemia's Men, afte ...

and Prince Charles's Men, may have begun his career as a boy actor with the King's Revels Children. The company seems to have run into financial problems quite early in its existence, with the result that its plays were sold off to printers —; something that theatre companies of the era generally avoided, since publication diminished the unique value of their basic assets, their plays. The company's financial state worsened, and it collapsed in litigation among its investors by 1609. Despite its short life, the King's Revels Children acquired an interesting repertory of plays in their active years. The plays below were published as having been acted by the King's Revels Children; they are listed with year of first publication, and date of entry into the Stationers' Register where available. * ''

Cupid's Whirligig ''Cupid's Whirligig'', by Edward Sharpham (1576-1608), is a city comedy set in London about a husband that suspects his wife of having affairs with other men and is consumed with irrational jealousy. It was first published in quarto in 1607, en ...

,''

Edward Sharpham Edward Sharpham (baptised 1576 – 1608) was an English playwright and pamphleteer. Life He was baptised on 22 July 1576, the third son of Richard Sharpham of Colehanger, a manor in the parish of East Allington. His father having died when Sharph ...

; licensed 29 June 1607; printed 1607 * '' The Family of Love,''

Lording Barry Lording Barry (1580–1629) was a 17th-century English dramatist and pirate. Career Barry was the son of Nicholas Barry, a fishmonger of London, and his wife Anne Lording. On the death of his father in 1607, he received an inheritance of £10, ...

; 12 October 1607; 1608 * ''Humour Out of Breath,'' John Day; 12 April 1608; 1608 * ''

The Dumb Knight ''The Dumb Knight'', ''The Dumbe Knight: A Historical Comedy'', or ''The Dumbe Knight: A Pleasant Comedy'', written by Lewis Machin and Gervase Markham in roughly 1601 was acted by the Children of the King's Revels likely in the Whitefriars Thea ...

,''

Gervase Markham Gervase (or Jervis) Markham (ca. 1568 – 3 February 1637) was an English poet and writer. He was best known for his work '' The English Huswife, Containing the Inward and Outward Virtues Which Ought to Be in a Complete Woman'', first publishe ...

and Lewis Machin; 6 October 1608; 1608 * ''Every Woman In Her Humour,'' Lewis Machin?; 1609 * ''The Two Maids of Moreclack,''

Robert Armin Robert Armin (c. 1568 – 1615) was an English actor, and member of the Lord Chamberlain's Men. He became the leading comedy actor with the troupe associated with William Shakespeare following the departure of Will Kempe around 1600. Also a p ...

; 1609 * ''The Turk,'' John Mason; 10 March 1609; 1610 * ''Ram Alley,''

; 9 November 1610; 1611. Day's ''Humour Out of Breath'' contains a possible allusion to

Shakespeare's William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

Timon of Athens ''Timon of Athens'' (''The Life of Tymon of Athens'') is a play written by William Shakespeare and probably also Thomas Middleton in about 1606. It was published in the '' First Folio'' in 1623. Timon lavishes his wealth on parasitic companio ...

'' that helps to date the latter play.

Notes

{{reflist

References

* Chambers, E. K. ''The Elizabethan Stage.'' 4 Volumes, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1923. * Gurr, Andrew. ''The Shakespearean Stage 1574–1642.'' Third edition, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1992. Boy players 1607 establishments in England 1609 disestablishments

See also

Notes

References