{"id":1399,"date":"2016-10-19T21:57:30","date_gmt":"2016-10-19T19:57:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.elizabethanpartsongs.nl\/wordpress\/?page_id=1399"},"modified":"2019-07-29T17:11:05","modified_gmt":"2019-07-29T15:11:05","slug":"presenting-the-lord-chamberlains-boys-and-men","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.elizabethanpartsongs.nl\/wordpress\/shakespeare-1616-2016\/the-first-night-of-romeo-juliet\/presenting-the-lord-chamberlains-boys-and-men\/","title":{"rendered":"Presenting the Lord Chamberlain’s Boys and Men"},"content":{"rendered":"

If only there was a source that had the original players for each part in the occasional play on record, things would be a piece of cake. This reconstruction now must do with the names on the ca. 1597 – 98 plot-sheet of The Second Part of the Seven Deadly Sins<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\n
Supposed to be the lost play by Richard Tarlton (d. 1588). The <\/span><\/em>manuscript links the names of Richard Burbage (actor) and Edward Allyn <\/span><\/em>(supposed source of manuscript) to the production, to the result of a dating <\/span><\/em>before their careers parted in 1594. Research by David Kathman <\/span><\/em>(<\/span><\/em>Reconsidering The Seven Deadly Sins<\/span> ; Early Theatre 7.1 : 2004) links the <\/span><\/em>plot-sheet to a source within the Chamberlain\u2019s Men. The previously impossible <\/span><\/em>identification of several boy players (Christian names, and abbreviations) is <\/span><\/em>now a piece of cake. And dates the manuscript ca 1597 – 98.<\/span><\/em><\/h5>\n<\/blockquote>\n

It stands to reason that Shakespeare wrote his 1590\u2019s plays on the specifics of this production\u2019s actors. The source, however, must for completeness be combined with the 1623 First Folio\u2019s principal actors. The boy players are actors aged ten to eighteen in 1594 who can in later years be linked to Shakespeare\u2019s company as adult rookies. To identify these rookies as the company\u2019s matured boy players is no wishful thinking : unlike London\u2019s all-boys troupes, the Chamberlain\u2019s trained future professionals. Which is not only evident from Hamlet\u2019s shocked reaction at learning of all-boys companies to exist – his expert opinion is best summarized as \u2018these children only make fine actors as children\u2019 – but from any Shakespeare play : they have the company\u2019s smallest boys on stage to play children only. And they grow into the more challenging woman\u2019s parts with growing skills and experience.<\/p>\n

This, of course, involves writing specific parts on specific actors. And it makes sense to assume that Shakespeare was only expected to write novice boys into his plays who had qualified for the main stage. Boys, therefore, who had shown promise and who had a future within the company. This list of thirteen boys may therefore be fairly complete, but the age-related order of entrance is a matter of educated guesswork :<\/p>\n

………..<\/span> trebles ………………………………………………………………<\/span> senior apprentices ………….<\/span>
\nRobert Beeston<\/a> (ca. 10) ………………………………………….<\/span> John Holland<\/a>\u00a0 (19 ?) ……………..<\/span>
\nJohn Doe<\/a>\u00a0 (ca. 10) ………………………………………………….<\/span> Anthony Jeffes<\/a> (ca. 20) ………….<\/span>
\nSamuel Gilbourne<\/a> (10) …………………………………………..<\/span> Humphrey Jeffes<\/a> (ca. 20) ………<\/span>
\nNicholas Tooley<\/a> (11) ………………………………………………………..<\/span> hired men …………………..<\/span>
\nAlexander Cooke<\/a> (ca. 11) ………………………………………..<\/span> John Sincler<\/a> (20 – 40 ?) ………..<\/span>
\nRobert Gough<\/a> (ca. 12) ……………………………………………<\/span> Samuel Crosse<\/a> (30 ?) ……………..<\/span>
\nThomas Belte<\/a> (ca. 13) …………………………………………….<\/span> Thomas Goodale<\/a> (ca. 37) ……….<\/span>
\n………..<\/span> junior apprentices ……………………………………………..<\/span> sharers : ……………………..<\/span>
\nEdmund Shakespeare<\/a> (14) ……………………………………..<\/span> George Bryan<\/a> (ca. 35) …………….<\/span>
\nChristopher Beeston<\/a>\u00a0 (14) ………………………………………<\/span> Thomas Pope<\/a> (40 – 60) ………….<\/span>
\n………..<\/span> changing voices : ………………………………………..<\/span> Augustine Phillips<\/a> (25 – 30) …..<\/span>
\nJohn Duke<\/a> (ca. 15) ………………………………………………..<\/span> Richard Burbage<\/a> (26) …………….<\/span>
\nRobert Pallant<\/a> (15 or 16) ………………………………………..<\/span> William Shakespeare<\/a>\u00a0 (30) ……..<\/span>
\n………..<\/span> leading ladies : ……………………………………………<\/span> Richard Cowley<\/a> (ca. 30) …………<\/span>
\nGabriel Spenser<\/a> (ca. 16) …………………………………………<\/span> William Kempe<\/a> (past 30) ……….<\/span>
\nHenry Condell<\/a> (17) ………………………………………………..<\/span> John Heminges<\/a> (37) ………………<\/span><\/p>\n

………..<\/span> Managers :
\nCuthbert Burbage<\/a> (29)
\nJames Burbage<\/a> (49 – 54)<\/p>\n

The post A question from the University of Toronto<\/em> discusses the evidence concerning\u00a0 Humphrey and Anthony Jeffes<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If only there was a source that had the original players for each part in the occasional play on record, things would be a piece of cake. This reconstruction now must do with the names on the ca. 1597 – … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":1369,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.elizabethanpartsongs.nl\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1399"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.elizabethanpartsongs.nl\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.elizabethanpartsongs.nl\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.elizabethanpartsongs.nl\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.elizabethanpartsongs.nl\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1399"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.elizabethanpartsongs.nl\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1399\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1738,"href":"https:\/\/www.elizabethanpartsongs.nl\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1399\/revisions\/1738"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.elizabethanpartsongs.nl\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1369"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.elizabethanpartsongs.nl\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1399"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}