Shakespearean Playhouses: A History of English Theatres from the Beginnings to the RestorationAdams, Joseph Quincy
History
Shakespearean Playhouses: A History of English Theatres from the Beginnings to the Restoration
Adams, Joseph Quincy
Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 -- Stage history -- To 1625; Theaters -- England -- London -- History
In the meanwhile Evans began negotiations with Burbage for the
surrender of the lease: "By reason the said premises lay then and had
long lyen void and without use for plays, whereby the same became not
only burthensome and unprofitable unto the said Evans, but also ran
far into decay for want of reparations ... the said Evans began to
treat with the said Richard Burbage about a surrender of the said
Evans his said lease."[357] This time Burbage listened to the
proposal, for he and his fellow-actors at the Globe "considered that
the house would be fit for themselves." So in August, 1608, he agreed
to take over the building for the use of the King's Men.
[Footnote 357: _Ibid._, p. 87.]
Even after Evans's surrender of the lease, Keysar, it seems, made an
effort to keep the Children together. On the following Christmas,
1608-09, we find a record of payment to him for performances at Court,
by "The Children of Blackfriars." But soon after this the troupe must
have been disbanded. Keysar says that they were "enforced to be
dispersed and turned away to the abundant hurt of the said young
men";[358] and the Burbages and Heminges declare that the children
"were dispersed and driven each of them to provide for himself by
reason that the plays ceasing in the City of London, either through
sickness, or for some other cause, he, the said complainant [Keysar],
was no longer able to maintain them together."[359] In the autumn of
1609, however, Keysar assembled the Children again, reorganized them
with the assistance of Philip Rosseter, and placed them in Whitefriars
Playhouse, recently left vacant by the disruption of the Children of
His Majesty's Revels. Their subsequent history will be found related
in the chapter dealing with that theatre.
[Footnote 358: _Ibid._, p. 90.]
[Footnote 359: Wallace, _Shakespeare and his London Associates_, p.
97.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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