"Their Majesties' Servants." Annals of the English Stage (Volume 1 of 3)Doran, Dr. (John)
History
"Their Majesties' Servants." Annals of the English Stage (Volume 1 of 3)
Doran, Dr. (John)
Actors -- Great Britain; Theater -- Great Britain -- History
Of Shakspeare's brother Charles, who lived to this period, Oldys
says:--"This opportunity made the actors greedily inquisitive into
every little circumstance, more especially in Shakspeare's dramatic
character, which his brother could relate of him. But he, it seems,
was so stricken in years, and possibly his memory so weakened by
infirmities (which might make him the easier pass for a man of weak
intellects), that he could give them but little light into their
inquiries; and all that could be recollected from him of his brother
_Will_ in that station, was the faint, general, and almost lost ideas
he had of having once seen him act a part in one of his own comedies,
wherein being to personate a decrepit old man, he wore a long beard,
and appeared so weak and drooping, and unable to walk, that he was
forced to be supported and carried by another person to a table, at
which he was seated among some company who were eating, and one of
them sung a song." This description applies to old Adam, in "As You
Like It;" and he who feebly shadowed it forth, formed a link which
connected the old theatre with the new.
The principal actors in Killigrew's Company, from which that of Drury
Lane is descended, were Bateman, Baxter, Bird (Theophilus), Blagden,
Burt, Cartwright, Clun, Duke, Hancock, Hart, Kynaston, Lacy, Mohun,
the Shatterels (William and Robert), and Wintersel. Later additions
gave to this company Beeston, Bell, Charleton, "Scum" Goodman,
Griffin, Hains, Joe Harris, Hughes, Lyddoll, Reeves, and Shirley.
The "ladies" were Mrs. Corey, Eastland, Hughes, Knep, the Marshalls
(Anne and Rebecca), Rutter, Uphill, whom Sir Robert Howard too
tardily married, and Weaver. Later engagements included those of Mrs.
Boutel, Gwyn (Nell), James, Reeves, and Verjuice. These were sworn at
the Lord Chamberlain's Office to serve the King. Of the "gentlemen,"
ten were enrolled on the Royal Household Establishment, and provided
with liveries of scarlet cloth and silver lace. In the warrants of
the Lord Chamberlain they were styled "_Gentlemen_ of the Great
Chamber;" and they might have pointed to this fact as proof of the
dignity of their profession.
The company first got together by Rhodes, subsequently enlarged
by Davenant, and sworn to serve the Duke of York, at Lincoln's
Inn Fields, was in some respects superior to that of Drury Lane.
Rhodes's troop included the great Betterton, Dixon, Lilliston,
Lovel, Nokes (Robert), and six lads employed to represent female
characters--Angel, William Betterton, a brother of the great actor
(drowned early in life, at Wallingford), Floid, Kynaston (for a
time), Mosely, and Nokes (James). Later, Davenant added Blagden,
Harris, Price, and Richards; Medbourn, Norris, Sandford, Smith, and
Young. The actresses were Mrs. Davenport, Davies, Gibbs, Holden,
Jennings, Long, and Saunderson, whom Betterton shortly after married.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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