Richard Robinson (died March 1648) was an actor in

English Renaissance theatre English Renaissance theatre, also known as Renaissance English theatre and Elizabethan theatre, refers to the theatre of England between 1558 and 1642. This is the style of the plays of William Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe and Ben Jonson ...

and a member of Shakespeare's company the King's Men.

Biography

Robinson started out as a

boy player Boy player refers to children who performed in Medieval and English Renaissance playing companies. Some boy players worked for the adult companies and performed the female roles as women did not perform on the English stage in this period. Others ...

with the company; in

1611 Events January–June * February 27 – Sunspots are observed by telescope, by Frisian astronomers Johannes Fabricius and David Fabricius. Johannes publishes the results of these observations, in ''De Maculis in Sole observat ...

he played the Lady in their production of ''

The Second Maiden's Tragedy ''The Second Maiden's Tragedy'' is a Jacobean play that survives only in manuscript. It was written in 1611, and performed in the same year by the King's Men. The manuscript was acquired, but never printed, by the publisher Humphrey Moseley af ...

.'' He was cast in their production of

Ben Jonson Benjamin "Ben" Jonson (c. 11 June 1572 – c. 16 August 1637) was an English playwright and poet. Jonson's artistry exerted a lasting influence upon English poetry and stage comedy. He popularised the comedy of humours; he is best known for t ...

's ''

Catiline Lucius Sergius Catilina ( 108 BC – January 62 BC), known in English as Catiline (), was a Roman politician and soldier. He is best known for instigating the Catilinarian conspiracy, a failed attempt to violently seize control of the ...

'' 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 ''Webster's Dictionary'' is any of the English language dictionaries edited in the early 19th century by American lexicographer Noah Webster (1758–1843), as well as numerous related or unrelated dictionaries that have adopted the Webster's ...

The Duchess of Malfi ''The Duchess of Malfi'' (originally published as ''The Tragedy of the Dutchesse of Malfy'') is a Jacobean revenge tragedy written by English dramatist John Webster in 1612–1613. It was first performed privately at the Blackfriars Theatre, ...

'' c. 1621. Robinson reportedly played the part of Wittipol in Jonson's '' The Devil is an Ass'' in

1616 Events January–June * January ** Six-year-old António Vieira arrives from Portugal, with his parents, in Bahia (present-day Salvador) in Colonial Brazil, where he will become a diplomat, noted author, leading figure of the Church, an ...

. In the printed text of that play (

1631 Events January–March * January 23 – Thirty Years' War: Sweden and France sign the Treaty of Bärwalde, a military alliance in which France provides funds for the Swedish army invading northern Germany. * February 5 &ndash ...

), 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 Events January–March * January 7 – Polish-Swedish War: Battle of Wallhof in Latvia – Gustavus Adolphus, King of Sweden, defeats a Polish army. * January 9 – Peter Minuit sails from Texel Island for America's Ne ...

production of Massinger's '' The Roman Actor,'' and Count Orsinio in

Lodowick Carlell Lodowick Carlell (1602–1675), also Carliell or Carlile, was a seventeenth-century English playwright, was active mainly during the Caroline era and the Commonwealth period. Courtier Carlell's ancestry was Scottish. He was the son of Herbe ...

's '' The Deserving Favourite'' (

1629 Events January–March * January 7– Henry Frederick, Hereditary Prince of the Palatinate, the 15-year-old son of the German Palatinate elector, Frederick V, drowns in an accident while sailing to Amsterdam. * January 19&nd ...

). Robinson is included in the cast lists for the company's productions of '' Bonduca'', '' The Double Marriage'', '' A Wife for a Month'', and '' The Wild Goose Chase'', plays in the canon of John Fletcher and his collaborators. According to the last will and testament of

Nicholas Tooley Nicholas Tooley (c. 1583 – June 1623) was a Renaissance actor in the King's Men, the acting company of William Shakespeare. Recent research has shown that Tooley was born in late 1582 or early 1583; his birth name was not Tooley but Wilkin ...

, Robinson owed Tooley £29 13''s.'' in 1623; Tooley forgave the debt in his will. Robinson married Winifred Burbage (d.1642), the widow of

Richard Burbage Richard Burbage (c. 1567 – 13 March 1619) was an English stage actor, widely considered to have been one of the most famous actors of the Globe Theatre and of his time. In addition to being a stage actor, he was also a theatre owner, entr ...

. Together with

Cuthbert Burbage Cuthbert Burbage (c. 15 June 1565 – 15 September 1636) was an English theatrical figure, son of James Burbage, builder of the Theatre in Shoreditch and elder brother of the actor Richard Burbage. From 1589 he was the owner of the ground le ...

William Heminges William Heminges (1602 – c. 1653?), also Hemminges, Heminge, and other variants, was a playwright and theatrical figure of the Caroline period. He was the ninth child and third son of John Heminges, the actor and colleague of William Shakespear ...

, Joseph Taylor and

John Lowin John Lowin (baptized 9 December 1576 – buried – 24 August 1653) was an English actor. Early life Born in St Giles-without-Cripplegate, London, Lowin was the son of a tanner. Like Robert Armin, he was apprenticed to a goldsmith. Whil ...

, Robinson and his wife, Winifred, filed a Bill of Complaint on 28 January 1632 in the

Court of Requests The Court of Requests was a minor equity court in England and Wales. It was instituted by King Richard III in his 1484 parliament. It first became a formal tribunal with some Privy Council elements under Henry VII, hearing cases from the poor ...

against the owner of the Globe, Sir Matthew Brend, in order to obtain confirmation of an extension of the 31-year lease originally granted by Sir Matthew Brend's father, Nicholas Brend.. Robinson was one of the King's Men who signed the dedication of the first Beaumont and Fletcher folio in

1647 Events January–March * January 2 – Chinese bandit leader Zhang Xianzhong, who has ruled the Sichuan province since 1644, is killed at Xichong by a Qing archer after having been betrayed one of his officers, Liu Jinzhong. ...

. Seventeenth-century sources, including James Wright's '' Historia Histrionica'' (

1699 Events January–March * January 5 – A violent Java earthquake damages the city of Batavia on the Indonesian island of Java, killing at least 28 people * January 20 – The Parliament of England (under Tory dominance) limits the size ...

), falsely report that Robinson was killed in the

siege of Basing House The siege of Basing House near Basingstoke in Hampshire, was a Parliamentarian victory late in the First English Civil War. Whereas the title of the event may suggest a single siege, there were in fact three major engagements. John Paulet ...

in October 1645, during the

English Civil War The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I ("Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of re ...

. Richard Robinson was probably confused with another actor with a similar name; there was more than one Robinson in

Caroline era The Caroline era is the period in English and Scottish history named for the 24-year reign of Charles I (1625–1649). The term is derived from ''Carolus'', the Latin for Charles. The Caroline era followed the Jacobean era, the reign of Charles's ...

theatre —; though the actor in question was most likely comedian and fellow King's Man William Robbins. In fact, Richard Robinson was buried at St. Anne's Church, in Blackfriars, on 23 March 1648.

Notes

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Robinson, Richard English male stage actors 17th-century English male actors 1648 deaths Year of birth unknown King's Men (playing company)