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
In Renaissance-era London, playing company was the usual term for a company of actors. These companies were organised around a group of ten or so shareholders (or "sharers"), who performed in the plays but were also responsible for management. T ...
or troupe of actors in the
Elizabethan
The Elizabethan era is the epoch in the Tudor period of the history of England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558–1603). Historians often depict it as the golden age in English history. The Roman symbol of Britannia (a female per ...
and
Stuart eras. It is generally considered the second most important acting troupe of
English Renaissance theatre
The English Renaissance theatre or Elizabethan theatre was the theatre of England from 1558 to 1642. Its most prominent playwrights were William Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe and Ben Jonson.
Background
The term ''English Renaissance theatr ...
(after the company of
Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 23 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 natio ...
, the
Lord Chamberlain's or
King's Men).
Beginnings
They were first known as the Lord Howard's Men, named after their patron
Charles Howard, 1st Earl of Nottingham. The company played once at Court on December 1576 (the play was called ''Tooley''), again on 17 February 1577 (''The Solitary Knight''), and a third time the following Christmas season, 5 January 1578 (all dates
new style
Old Style (O.S.) and New Style (N.S.) indicate dating systems before and after a calendar change, respectively. Usually, they refer to the change from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar as enacted in various Europe, European countrie ...
). They toured widely, from Bath to Nottingham, in the years 1577–79.
A powerful patron like Howard could make a great difference in a company's fortunes. Though there is little evidence that he was actively concerned with drama, Howard was almost alone among
Elizabeth's closest councillors in opposing the Lord Mayor of London's 1584 drive to close the public theatres. The theatres stayed open.
When Howard became
England
England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
's
Lord High Admiral in 1585, the group's name was changed to reflect his new title. They performed regularly in the provinces and at Court in the 1585–87 period; but a fatal accident at one of their performances forced them into a temporary retirement. (During a performance in London on 16 November 1587, stage gunfire went wrong, killing a child and a pregnant woman.) But they returned to activity with two performances at Court in the winter of 1588–9, on 29 December and 11 February.
Despite the power of their patron, the Admiral's Men were not entirely free of official interference. Both they and the
Lord Strange's Men were stopped from playing by the Lord Mayor of London in November 1589; it seems that
Edmund Tilney, the
Master of the Revels
The Master of the Revels was the holder of a position within the English, and later the British, royal household, heading the "Revels Office" or "Office of the Revels". The Master of the Revels was an executive officer under the Lord Chamberla ...
, had taken a dislike to their choice of plays. During this period of difficulty the Admiral's Men moved into James Burbage's
The Theatre
The Theatre was an Elizabethan playhouse in Shoreditch (in Curtain Road, part of the modern London Borough of Hackney), just outside the City of London. Built in 1576, after the Red Lion, it was the first permanent theatre built exclusiv ...
for a time (November 1590 to May 1591), and there they played ''Dead Man's Fortune'' with a young
Richard Burbage
Richard Burbage (6 January 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 owne ...
in the cast – the only time that the later competitors Burbage and
Edward Alleyn, the longtime star of the Admiral's, are known to have acted together.
If the Admiral's Men were having difficulties in the city in this period, they were still welcome at Court (28 December 1589; 30 March 1590), and still popular in the towns and shires, where they toured more in 1589–90. Indeed, this was perhaps the height of their achievement: in these years Alleyn was making a sensation acting the heroes of
Christopher Marlowe
Christopher Marlowe ( ; Baptism, baptised 26 February 156430 May 1593), also known as Kit Marlowe, was an English playwright, poet, and translator of the Elizabethan era. Marlowe is among the most famous of the English Renaissance theatre, Eli ...
. ''
Tamburlaine
''Tamburlaine the Great'' is a play in two parts by Christopher Marlowe. It is loosely based on the life of the Central Asian emperor Timur (Tamerlane/Timur the Lame, d. 1405). Written in 1587 or 1588, the play is a milestone in English liter ...
'' was printed in 1590 with their name on its title page. Some of the plays of
Robert Greene, and
Thomas Lodge
Thomas Lodge (September 1625) was an English writer and medical practitioner whose life spanned the Elizabethan and Jacobean periods.
Biography
Early life
Thomas Lodge was born about 1557 in West Ham, the second son of Sir Thomas Lodge ...
's ''The Wounds of Civil War,'' were also in their repertory in the early 1590s.
Henslowe years
It was during the later 1580s that the company established its long-term relationship with
Philip Henslowe, theatre builder, producer, impresario. Henslowe's
Rose Theatre was home to the Admiral's Men for a number of years, and Henslowe played a key role as a blend of manager and financier. After the major disruption of the 1592–94 era, when the public theatres endured a long closure due to
bubonic plague
Bubonic plague is one of three types of Plague (disease), plague caused by the Bacteria, bacterium ''Yersinia pestis''. One to seven days after exposure to the bacteria, flu-like symptoms develop. These symptoms include fever, headaches, and ...
, the Admiral's Men entered another lush period in 1594 and after.
The re-constituted company resumed performances on 14 May 1594, with ''
The Jew of Malta'' and two anonymous and lost plays, ''The Ranger's Comedy'' and ''Cutlack''. The Admiral's Men had Edward Alleyn as their leading man; other personnel included George Attewell, Thomas Downton, and James Tunstall, all veterans of the earlier pre-1592 version of the Admiral's, and Richard Jones, a former mate of Alleyn's and Tunstall's in
Worcester's Men
The Earl of Worcester's Men was an acting company in English Renaissance, Renaissance England. An early formation of the company, wearing the livery of William Somerset, 3rd Earl of Worcester, is among the companies known to have toured the coun ...
in the 1580s. (Jones and Downton would defect to
Pembroke's Men in early 1597, only to be caught up in their disastrous performance of
''The Isle of Dogs'', and return to the Admiral's by the end of that year.) Attewell was a "jigging" clown, known for his dancing; when
Richard Tarlton had died in 1588, Attewell had taken over the job of dancing a jig at the end of each performance of the
Queen Elizabeth's Men
Queen Elizabeth's Men was a playing company or troupe of actors in English Renaissance theatre. Formed in 1583 at the express command of Queen Elizabeth, it was the dominant acting company for the rest of the 1580s, as the Admiral's Men and th ...
. John Singer, another clown with the Queen Elizabeth's company, also joined the Admiral's in 1594; other members included Edward Juby, Martin Slater, and Thomas Towne. The company's repertory came to feature plays by
George Chapman
George Chapman ( – 12 May 1634) was an English dramatist, translator and poet. He was a classical scholar whose work shows the influence of Stoicism. Chapman is seen as an anticipator of the metaphysical poets of the 17th century. He is ...
,
William Haughton, and
Anthony Munday, among many other poets.
The survival of Henslowe's so-called
Diary
A diary is a written or audiovisual memorable record, with discrete entries arranged by date reporting on what has happened over the course of a day or other period. Diaries have traditionally been handwritten but are now also often digita ...
(actually an account book kept by Henslowe and others in his organization) provides scholars with more detailed information about the Admiral's Men in this era than is available for any contemporaneous acting troupe. Among other points, the Diary illustrates the enormous demands the Elizabethan repertory system placed upon the actors. In the 1594–95 season, the Admiral's Men generally performed six days a week, and staged a total of 38 plays; 21 of these were new plays, introduced at a rate of approximately one every two weeks – but only eight were acted again in subsequent seasons. The next season, 1595–96, demanded 37 plays, including 19 new ones; and the following year, 1596–97, 34 plays, 14 new. The company consistently played the works of Marlowe throughout this era. ''Tamburlaine Part 1'' was acted 14 times in the 1594–95 season, followed by ''
Doctor Faustus'' (12 performances), ''
The Massacre at Paris
''The Massacre at Paris'' is an Elizabethan play by the English dramatist Christopher Marlowe (1593) and a Restoration drama by Nathaniel Lee (1689), the latter chiefly remembered for a song by Henry Purcell. Both concern the Saint Bartholom ...
'' (10), ''
The Jew of Malta'' (9), and ''Tamburlaine Part 2'' (6). Taken altogether, the most popular play over this 1594–97 period was the anonymous ''The Wise Man of Westchester,'' which has not survived yet was acted 32 times over the three years, debuting on 3 December 1594 and last played on 18 July 1597. Earlier scholars speculated that it might be an alternative title for Anthony Munday's ''
John a Kent and John a Cumber'', though no firm evidence supports this idea.
Henslowe had interests in other theatres, including the
Fortune Theatre
The Fortune Theatre is a 432-seat West End theatre in Russell Street, near Covent Garden, in the City of Westminster. From 1989 until 2023 the theatre hosted the long running play '' The Woman in Black''.
History
The site was acquired by aut ...
(built in 1600); the Admiral's Men moved into the new venue, and when the lease ran out on The Rose in 1605 it was abandoned. The company prospered, at least moderately, in its new location: in 1600 a share in the Admiral's Men (one out of a total of ten) was worth £50, while in 1613 a share (one of twelve) was valued at £70.
Sometime in the winter of 1603–4, after the
House of Stuart
The House of Stuart, originally spelled Stewart, also known as the Stuart dynasty, was a dynasty, royal house of Kingdom of Scotland, Scotland, Kingdom of England, England, Kingdom of Ireland, Ireland and later Kingdom of Great Britain, Great ...
succeeded to the throne of England, the Admiral's Men acquired a new patron,
Prince Henry (1594–1612), later the Prince of Wales (1610–12). Edward Alleyn retired from the stage in 1604, though he was involved with the company as their Fortune Theatre landlord. During this period their core cohort of players consisted of William Bird, Thomas Towne,
Samuel Rowley, Charles Massey,
Humphrey and Anthony Jeffes, Edward Juby, and Thomas Downton (who had been part of the 1597 production of
''The Isle of Dogs''). Edward Juby was the company's payee for Court performances, which suggests that he had significant responsibility for the troupe's finances.
The company was known as Prince Henry's Men until the Henry's early death (6 November 1612), after which they came under the patronage of his new brother-in-law,
Frederick V, Elector Palatine. Their new patent of 11 January 1613 lists six of the actors of the previous decade, Juby, Bird, Rowley, Massey, Downton, and Humphrey Jeffes, plus six new sharers, who included
John Shank, later a long-time member of the King's Men, and
Richard Gunnell, who would become a theatre manager and impresario by building the
Salisbury Court Theatre with William Blagrave in 1629.
Decline
The company suffered a major set disaster when the Fortune Theatre burned down on 9 December 1621, destroying their stocks of playscripts and costumes. The owner,
Edward Alleyn, rebuilt it in 1623, in brick, at a cost of £1000. The actors moved back in, though recovery was difficult. They persisted for years, but endured a long-term decline in reputation. The company finally collapsed in 1631; after a re-organization, a troupe with some of the same personnel received royal patronage under the name of the infant Prince Charles, the future
Charles II, and became the second iteration of
Prince Charles's Men at the
Salisbury Court Theatre. In December 1631 the Fortune Theatre, vacated by the Admiral's/Palsgrave's company, received the
King's Revels Men from the Salisbury Court for the next few years (1631–33).
[Adams, p. 287.]
Repertory
The Admiral's Men acted a huge repertory of plays during their long career; Henslowe's Diary lists dozens from the 1597–1603 period alone. Most of these plays have not survived; they exist only as titles (sometimes provocative titles, like ''The Boss of Billingsgate,'' or ''Mahomet,'' or ''Judas''). The list that follows is a selection of noteworthy surviving plays.
*''
The Blind Beggar of Alexandria
''The Blind Beggar of Alexandria'' is an Elizabethan era stage play, a comedy written by George Chapman. It was the first of Chapman's plays to be produced on the stage; its success inaugurated his career as a dramatist.
Performance and publ ...
,''
George Chapman
George Chapman ( – 12 May 1634) was an English dramatist, translator and poet. He was a classical scholar whose work shows the influence of Stoicism. Chapman is seen as an anticipator of the metaphysical poets of the 17th century. He is ...
, 1596
*''
An Humorous Day's Mirth,'' George Chapman, 1597
*''
The Downfall and The Death of Robert Earl of Huntington,''
Anthony Munday and
Henry Chettle, 1598
*''
Englishmen for My Money'',
William Haughton, 1598
*''
The Shoemaker's Holiday,''
Thomas Dekker, 1599
*''
Sir John Oldcastle,'' Munday,
Robert Wilson,
Richard Hathwaye, and
Michael Drayton
Michael Drayton ( – ) was an English poet who came to prominence in the Elizabethan era, continuing to write through the reign of James I and into the reign of Charles I. Many of his works consisted of historical poetry. He was also the fir ...
, 1599
*''
The Honest Whore, Part 1,'' Dekker and
Thomas Middleton
Thomas Middleton (baptised 18 April 1580 – July 1627; also spelt ''Midleton'') was an English Jacobean playwright and poet. He, with John Fletcher and Ben Jonson, was among the most successful and prolific of playwrights at work in the Jac ...
, 1604
*''
When You See Me You Know Me,''
Samuel Rowley, 1605
*''The Whore of Babylon,'' Dekker, 1607
*''
The Roaring Girl,'' Dekker and Middleton, 1611
Notes
References
*
Adams, Joseph Quincy. ''Shakespearean Playhouses: A History of English Theatres from the Beginnings to the Restoration.'' Boston, Houghton Mifflin, 1917.
*
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.
*Halliday, F. E. ''A Shakespeare Companion 1564–1964.'' Baltimore, Penguin, 1964.
*Kenny, Robert W. ''Elizabeth's Admiral: The Political Career of Charles Howard, Earl of Nottingham 1536–1624.'' Baltimore, the Johns Hopkins Press, 1970.
{{authority control
1576 establishments in England
1631 disestablishments in England
Organizations established in 1576
Organizations disestablished in 1631
English early modern theatre companies
Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales
Charles II of England