William Sly (died August 1608) 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 ...

, a colleague of

William Shakespeare 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 ...

and

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 ...

in the

Lord Chamberlain's Men The Lord Chamberlain's Men was a company of actors, or a " playing company" (as it then would likely have been described), for which Shakespeare wrote during most of his career. Richard Burbage played most of the lead roles, including Hamlet, Oth ...

and the King's Men. Nothing is known of Sly's early life. He enters the historical record by playing Porrex in the c. 1591 production of the play ''The Seven Deadly Sins'' (likely written by Richard Tarleton), along with

Augustine Phillips Augustine Phillips (died May 1605) was an Elizabethan actor who performed in troupes with Edward Alleyn and William Shakespeare. He was one of the first generation of English actors to achieve wealth and a degree of social status by means of his ...

, Thomas Pope,

Richard Cowley Richard Cowley (died 1619) was an actor in English Renaissance theatre, a colleague of William Shakespeare and Richard Burbage in the Lord Chamberlain's Men and the King's Men. Cowley was in the c. 1591 production of '' The Seven Deadly Sin ...

, and George Bryan, all future colleagues in the Lord Chamberlain's Men. (That production was performed by a combination of personnel from the

Lord Strange's Men Lord Strange's Men was an Elizabethan playing company, comprising retainers of the household of Ferdinando Stanley, Lord Strange (pronounced "strang"). They are best known in their final phase of activity in the late 1580s and early 1590s. After ...

and the

Admiral's Men The Admiral's Men (also called the Admiral's company, more strictly, the Earl of Nottingham's Men; after 1603, Prince Henry's Men; after 1612, the Elector Palatine's Men or the Palsgrave's Men) was a playing company or troupe of actors in the E ...

.) He is generally thought to have been with the Lord Chamberlain's Men at their re-formed start in

1594 Events January–June * March 21 – Henry IV enters his capital of Paris for the first time. * April 17 – Hyacinth of Poland is canonized. * May ** Uprising in Banat of Serbs against Ottoman rule ends with the public ...

, probably at first as a hired man; he may have become a sharer in the company when George Bryan retired, c. 1597, though this is uncertain. Sly is mentioned in Henslowe's diary between October 1594 and January 1595. He bought a jewel in a white setting from Henslowe and was paying him back in installments during this period. Henslowe recorded 8 separate repayments made by Sly. Sly is included in the troupe's surviving cast lists for the next few years, for ''

Every Man in His Humour ''Every Man in His Humour'' is a 1598 play by the English playwright Ben Jonson. The play belongs to the subgenre of the " humours comedy," in which each major character is dominated by an over-riding humour or obsession. Performance and pu ...

'' (

1598 __NOTOC__ Events January–June * February 21 – Boris Godunov seizes the throne of Russia, following the death of his brother-in-law, Tsar Feodor I; the ''Time of Troubles'' starts. * April 13 – Edict of Nantes (promulgated April 30 ...

), ''

Every Man Out of His Humour ''Every Man out of His Humour'' is a satirical comedy written by English playwright Ben Jonson, acted in 1599 by the Lord Chamberlain's Men. The play The play is a conceptual sequel to his 1598 comedy '' Every Man in His Humour''. It was much l ...

'' (

1599 __NOTOC__ Events January–June * January 8 – The Jesuit educational plan, known as the ''Ratio Studiorum'', is issued. * March 12 – Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, is appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, by Queen Elizabeth I o ...

), and ''

Sejanus Lucius Aelius Sejanus (c. 20 BC – 18 October AD 31), commonly known as Sejanus (), was a Roman soldier, friend and confidant of the Roman Emperor Tiberius. Of the Equites class by birth, Sejanus rose to power as prefect of the Praetorian ...

'' ( 1603) — all three by

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 ...

. When the Lord Chamberlain's Men became the King's Men in May 1603, Sly was one of the sharers. He, along with a few other of the King's Men including Burbage, played himself in the brief Induction to

Marston's Marston's plc is a British pub and hotel operator. Founded by John Marston in 1834, it is listed on the London Stock Exchange. Marston's disposed of its brewing operations in 2020, selling the assets to a newly formed joint venture with the Ca ...

The Malcontent ''The Malcontent'' is an early Jacobean stage play written by the dramatist and satirist John Marston ca. 1603. The play was one of Marston's most successful works. ''The Malcontent'' is widely regarded as one of the most significant plays o ...

'', as indicated by the published version of the play. This scene showed him quoting one of Osric's lines in ''

Hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

,'' suggesting that he played that character. In 1605 Sly became a shareholder in the

Globe Theatre The Globe Theatre was a theatre in London associated with William Shakespeare. It was built in 1599 by Shakespeare's playing company, the Lord Chamberlain's Men, on land owned by Thomas Brend and inherited by his son, Nicholas Brend, and ...

; in the same year he was one of the executors of Augustine Phillips's will. He was also one of the shareholders in the Blackfriars Theatre when the King's Men took it over in August 1608, but died soon after, his potential portion being divided among the other sharers. On 16 August 1608 he was buried in St. Leonard's Church in

Shoreditch Shoreditch is a district in the East End of London in England, and forms the southern part of the London Borough of Hackney. Neighbouring parts of Tower Hamlets are also perceived as part of the area. In the 16th century, Shoreditch was an imp ...

. In his last will and testament, Sly left his share in the Globe to fellow actor Robert Browne; he left a large sum, £40, to a James Saunder or Sands, who might have been a boy player in ''The Seven Deadly Sins'' nearly two decades before. And he left his sword and hat to

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 ...

. F. E. Halliday, ''A Shakespeare Companion 1564–1964,'' Baltimore, Penguin, 1964; pp. 457-8.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sly, William English male stage actors 16th-century English male actors 17th-century English male actors 1608 deaths 16th-century births Year of birth unknown King's Men (playing company)