Mary Knep (died 1681), also Knepp, Nepp, Knip, or Knipp, was an
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
actress
An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), li ...
and one of the first generation of female performers to appear on the public stage during the
Restoration era.
Acting career
Knep was primarily a singer and dancer, but "developed into a first-rate actress". She began her career with the
King's Company
The King's Company was one of two enterprises granted the rights to mount theatrical productions in London, after the London theatre closure had been lifted at the start of the English Restoration. It existed from 1660 to 1682, when it merged wit ...
, which was under the management of
Thomas Killigrew
Thomas Killigrew (7 February 1612 – 19 March 1683) was an English dramatist and theatre manager. He was a witty, dissolute figure at the court of King Charles II of England.
Life
Killigrew was one of twelve children of Sir Robert Killigrew ...
.
She made her debut in the title role of
Jonson's ''
Epicene
Epicenity is the lack of gender distinction, often reducing the emphasis on the masculine to allow the feminine. It includes androgyny – having both masculine and feminine characteristics. The adjective ''gender-neutral'' may describe epice ...
'' on 1 June 1664. Before this, she had been cast as Lucetta in Killigrew's 1664 planned production of his ''
Thomaso
''Thomaso, or the Wanderer'' is mid-seventeenth-century stage play, a two-part comedy written by Thomas Killigrew, The work was composed in Madrid, c. 1654. ''Thomaso'' is based on Killigrew's personal experiences as a Royalist exile during the e ...
'', with an all-female cast, but this had been cancelled before completion.
Knep played major and minor roles in a range of productions of the 1660s and 1670s, including:
* the Widow in
Beaumont and Fletcher
Beaumont and Fletcher were the English dramatists Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher, who collaborated in their writing during the reign of James I (1603–25).
They became known as a team early in their association, so much so that their joi ...
's ''
The Scornful Lady
''The Scornful Lady'' is a Jacobean era stage play, a comedy written by Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher, and first published in 1616, the year of Beaumont's death. It was one of the pair's most popular, often revived, and frequently reprint ...
'', 1666
* Guiomar in
Fletcher
Fletcher may refer to:
People
* Fletcher (occupation), a person who fletches arrows, the origin of the surname
* Fletcher (singer) (born 1994), American actress and singer-songwriter
* Fletcher (surname)
* Fletcher (given name)
Places
United ...
and
Massinger's ''
The Custom of the Country'', 1667
* Alibech in
Dryden's ''
The Indian Emperour'', the 1667 revival
* Asteria in Dryden's ''
The Maiden Queen'', 1667
* Beatrix in Dryden's ''
An Evening's Love
''An Evening's Love, or The Mock Astrologer'' is a comedy in prose by John Dryden. It was first performed before Charles II and Queen Catherine by the King's Company at the Theatre Royal on Bridges Street, London, on Friday, 12 June 1668. Sa ...
'', 1668
* Aminta in Fletcher and Massinger's ''
The Sea Voyage
''The Sea Voyage'' is a late Jacobean comedy written by John Fletcher and Philip Massinger. The play is notable for its imitation of Shakespeare's '' The Tempest.''
Performance and publication
''The Sea Voyage'' was licensed for performance ...
'', 1668
* Nakar and Felicia in Dryden's ''
Tyrannick Love'', 1669
* Lady Flippant in
Wycherly's ''
Love in a Wood'', 1671
* Hyppolita in Dryden's ''
The Assignation'', 1672
* Lady Fidget in Wycherly's ''
The Country Wife'', 1675
* Eliza in Wycherly's ''
The Plain Dealer
''The Plain Dealer'' is the major newspaper of Cleveland, Ohio, United States. In fall 2019, it ranked 23rd in U.S. newspaper circulation, a significant drop since March 2013, when its circulation ranked 17th daily and 15th on Sunday.
As of Ma ...
'', 1676
* Mrs. Dorothy in
d'Urfey's ''
Trick for Trick'', 1678 — her last known role.
In addition to playing these and other parts, Knep also sang and danced in plays and spoke Prologues and Epilogues.
She never achieved the same fame as her younger contemporary
Nell Gwyn; in 1672 Knep secured the lead female role in ''
The Assignation'', but the play was a flop.
Personal life
Knep was reportedly "the wife of a
Smithfield horsedealer, and the mistress of Pepys" — or at least (according to Cunningham) "she granted him a share of her favours". Scholars disagree on the full extent of the Pepys/Knep relationship; but much of what we know about Knep comes from
Samuel Pepys' famous private diary.
Pepys first met Knep on 6 December 1665; he described her as "pretty enough, but the most excellent, mad-humoured thing, and sings the noblest that I ever heard in my life." He called her husband "an ill, melancholy, jealous-looking fellow" and suspected him of abusing her. Knep provided Pepys with backstage access, and was a conduit for theatrical and social gossip. When they wrote notes to each other, Pepys signed himself "Dapper Dickey," while Knep was "
Barbary Allen" (a popular song that was an item in her musical repertory).
She may have been a mistress of Sir
Charles Sedley,
[ John Downes, ''Roscius Anglicanus'', London, 1708; Montague Summers, ed., London, Fortune Press ]o date
O, or o, is the fifteenth letter and the fourth vowel letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''o'' (pronounced ), plu ...
reprinted New York, Benjamin Blom, 1963; p. 93. and in the late 1670s she became the mistress of actor
Joseph Haines.
Knep had at least one child, a son born in June 1666. She died in childbirth in 1681.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Knep, Mary
17th-century English actresses
English stage actresses
1681 deaths
Year of birth unknown
17th-century English women singers