Admiral's Men
Encyclopedia
The Admiral's Men was a playing company
or troupe of actors in the Elizabethan
and Stuart
eras . It is generally considered the second most important acting troupe of English Renaissance theatre
(after the company of Shakespeare
, the Lord Chamberlain's
or King's Men
).
. 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
). 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
'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
, 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
for a time (November 1590 to May 1591), and there they played Dead Man's Fortune with a young Richard Burbage
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
. Tamburlaine was printed in 1590 with their name on its title page. Some of the plays of Robert Greene
, and Thomas Lodge
's The Wounds of Civil War, were also in their repertory in the early 1590s.
, theatre builder, producer, impressario. 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
, 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
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
. 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
, William Haughton
, and Anthony Munday
, among many other poets.
The survival of Henslowe's so-called Diary (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
(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
(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
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'd 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 impressario by building the Salisbury Court Theatre
with William Blagrave in 1629.
, 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).
[See also: Sir Thomas More
.]
Playing company
In Renaissance London, playing company was the usual term for a company of actors. These companies were organized around a group of ten or so shareholders , who performed in the plays but were also responsible for management. The sharers employed "hired men" — that is, the minor actors and...
or troupe of actors in the Elizabethan
Elizabethan era
The Elizabethan era was the epoch in English history of Queen Elizabeth I's reign . Historians often depict it as the golden age in English history...
and Stuart
House of Stuart
The House of Stuart is a European royal house. Founded by Robert II of Scotland, the Stewarts first became monarchs of the Kingdom of Scotland during the late 14th century, and subsequently held the position of the Kings of Great Britain and Ireland...
eras . It is generally considered the second most important acting troupe of English Renaissance theatre
English Renaissance theatre
English Renaissance theatre, also known as early modern English theatre, refers to the theatre of England, largely based in London, which occurred between the Reformation and the closure of the theatres in 1642...
(after the company of Shakespeare
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
, the Lord Chamberlain's
Lord Chamberlain's Men
The Lord Chamberlain's Men was a playing company for whom Shakespeare worked for most of his career. Formed at the end of a period of flux in the theatrical world of London, it had become, by 1603, one of the two leading companies of the city and was subsequently patronised by James I.It was...
or King's Men
King's Men (playing company)
The King's Men was the company of actors to which William Shakespeare belonged through most of his career. Formerly known as The Lord Chamberlain's Men during the reign of Queen Elizabeth, it became The King's Men in 1603 when King James ascended the throne and became the company's patron.The...
).
Beginnings
They were first known as the Lord Howard's Men, named after their patron Charles Howard, 1st Earl of NottinghamCharles Howard, 1st Earl of Nottingham
Charles Howard, 1st Earl of Nottingham , known as Howard of Effingham, was an English statesman and Lord High Admiral under Elizabeth I and James I...
. 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 and New Style dates
Old Style and New Style are used in English language historical studies either to indicate that the start of the Julian year has been adjusted to start on 1 January even though documents written at the time use a different start of year ; or to indicate that a date conforms to the Julian...
). 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
Elizabeth I of England
Elizabeth I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty...
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
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
's Lord High Admiral
Admiralty
The Admiralty was formerly the authority in the Kingdom of England, and later in the United Kingdom, responsible for the command of the Royal Navy...
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
Lord Strange's Men
Lord Strange's Men was an Elizabethan playing company, comprising retainers of the household of Ferdinando Stanley, Lord Strange . They are best known in their final phase of activity in the late 1580s and early 1590s...
were stopped from playing by the Lord Mayor of London in November 1589; it seems that Edmund Tilney, the Master of the Revels
Master of the Revels
The Master of the Revels was a position within the English, and later the British, royal household heading the "Revels Office" or "Office of the Revels" that originally had responsibilities for overseeing royal festivities, known as revels, and later also became responsible for stage censorship,...
, 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
The Theatre was an Elizabethan playhouse located in Shoreditch , just outside the City of London. It was the second permanent theatre ever built in England, after the Red Lion, and the first successful one...
for a time (November 1590 to May 1591), and there they played Dead Man's Fortune with a young Richard Burbage
Richard Burbage
Richard Burbage was an English actor and theatre owner. He was the younger brother of Cuthbert Burbage. They were both actors in drama....
in the cast — the only time that the later competitors Burbage and Edward Alleyn
Edward Alleyn
Edward Alleyn was an English actor who was a major figure of the Elizabethan theatre and founder of Dulwich College and Alleyn's School.-Early life:...
, 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
Christopher Marlowe was an English dramatist, poet and translator of the Elizabethan era. As the foremost Elizabethan tragedian, next to William Shakespeare, he is known for his blank verse, his overreaching protagonists, and his mysterious death.A warrant was issued for Marlowe's arrest on 18 May...
. Tamburlaine was printed in 1590 with their name on its title page. Some of the plays of Robert Greene
Robert Greene (16th century)
Robert Greene was an English author best known for a posthumous pamphlet attributed to him, Greene's Groats-Worth of Wit, widely believed to contain a polemic attack on William Shakespeare. He was born in Norwich and attended Cambridge University, receiving a B.A. in 1580, and an M.A...
, and Thomas Lodge
Thomas Lodge
Thomas Lodge was an English dramatist and writer of the Elizabethan and Jacobean periods.-Early life and education:...
'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 HenslowePhilip Henslowe
Philip Henslowe was an Elizabethan theatrical entrepreneur and impresario. Henslowe's modern reputation rests on the survival of his diary, a primary source for information about the theatrical world of Renaissance London...
, theatre builder, producer, impressario. Henslowe's Rose Theatre
The Rose (theatre)
The Rose was an Elizabethan theatre. It was the fourth of the public theatres to be built, after The Theatre , the Curtain , and the theatre at Newington Butts The Rose was an Elizabethan theatre. It was the fourth of the public theatres to be built, after The Theatre (1576), the Curtain (1577),...
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
Plague is a deadly infectious disease that is caused by the enterobacteria Yersinia pestis, named after the French-Swiss bacteriologist Alexandre Yersin. Primarily carried by rodents and spread to humans via fleas, the disease is notorious throughout history, due to the unrivaled scale of death...
, 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
The Jew of Malta
The Jew of Malta is a play by Christopher Marlowe, probably written in 1589 or 1590. Its plot is an original story of religious conflict, intrigue, and revenge, set against a backdrop of the struggle for supremacy between Spain and the Ottoman Empire in the Mediterranean that takes place on the...
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
Worcester's Men
The Earl of Worcester's Men was an acting company in 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 country in the mid-sixteenth century...
in the 1580s. (Jones and Downton would defect to Pembroke's Men
Pembroke's Men
The Earl of Pembroke's Men was an Elizabethan era playing company, or troupe of actors, in English Renaissance theatre. They functioned under the patronage of Henry Herbert, 2nd Earl of Pembroke. Early and equivocal mentions of a Pembroke's company reach as far back as 1575; but the company is...
in early 1597, only to be caught up in their disastrous performance of The Isle of Dogs
The Isle of Dogs (play)
The Isle of Dogs is a play by Thomas Nashe and Ben Jonson which was performed in 1597. It was immediately suppressed, and no copy of it is known to exist.-The Play:...
, and return to the Admiral's by the end of that year.) Attewell was a "jigging" clown, known for his dancing; when Richard Tarlton
Richard Tarlton
Richard Tarlton , an English actor, was the most famous clown of his era.His birthplace is unknown, but reports of over a century later give it as Condover in Shropshire, with a later move to Ilford in Essex...
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
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 the Lord Chamberlain's Men would be in the decade that...
. 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
George Chapman was an English dramatist, translator, and poet. He was a classical scholar, and his work shows the influence of Stoicism. Chapman has been identified as the Rival Poet of Shakespeare's Sonnets by William Minto, and as an anticipator of the Metaphysical Poets...
, William Haughton
William Haughton
William Haughton was an English playwright in the age of English Renaissance theatre. During the years 1597 to 1602 he collaborated in many plays with Henry Chettle, Thomas Dekker, John Day, Richard Hathwaye and Wentworth Smith....
, and Anthony Munday
Anthony Munday
Anthony Munday was an English dramatist and miscellaneous writer. The chief interest in Munday for the modern reader lies in his collaboration with Shakespeare and others on the play Sir Thomas More and his writings on Robin Hood.-Biography:He was once thought to have been born in 1553, because...
, among many other poets.
The survival of Henslowe's so-called Diary (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
The Massacre at Paris is an Elizabethan play by the English dramatist Christopher Marlowe. It concerns the Saint Bartholomew's Day Massacre, which took place in Paris in 1572, and the part played by the Duc de Guise in those events....
(10), The Jew of Malta
The Jew of Malta
The Jew of Malta is a play by Christopher Marlowe, probably written in 1589 or 1590. Its plot is an original story of religious conflict, intrigue, and revenge, set against a backdrop of the struggle for supremacy between Spain and the Ottoman Empire in the Mediterranean that takes place on the...
(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
Fortune Playhouse
The Fortune Playhouse was an historic theatre in London. It was located between Whitecross Street and the modern Golden Lane, just outside the City of London...
(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
House of Stuart
The House of Stuart is a European royal house. Founded by Robert II of Scotland, the Stewarts first became monarchs of the Kingdom of Scotland during the late 14th century, and subsequently held the position of the Kings of Great Britain and Ireland...
succeeded to the throne of England, the Admiral's Men acquired a new patron, Prince Henry
Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales
Henry Frederick Stuart, Prince of Wales was the elder son of King James I & VI and Anne of Denmark. His name derives from his grandfathers: Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley and Frederick II of Denmark. Prince Henry was widely seen as a bright and promising heir to his father's throne...
(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
Samuel Rowley
Samuel Rowley was a 17th century English dramatist and actor.Rowley first appears in the historical record as an associate of Philip Henslowe in the late 1590s. Initially he appears to have been an actor, perhaps a sharer, in the Admiral's Men, who performed at the Rose Theatre...
, Charles Massey, Humphrey and Anthony Jeffes
King's Men personnel
King's Men personnel were the people who worked with and for the Lord Chamberlain's Men and the King's Men from 1594 to 1642...
, Edward Juby, and Thomas Downton (who'd been part of the 1597 production of The Isle of Dogs
The Isle of Dogs (play)
The Isle of Dogs is a play by Thomas Nashe and Ben Jonson which was performed in 1597. It was immediately suppressed, and no copy of it is known to exist.-The Play:...
). 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
Frederick V, Elector Palatine
Frederick V was Elector Palatine , and, as Frederick I , King of Bohemia ....
. 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
John Shank
John Shank was an actor in English Renaissance theatre, a leading comedian in the King's Men during the 1620s and 1630s.-Early career:...
, later a long-time member of the King's Men, and Richard Gunnell
Richard Gunnell
Richard Gunnell was an actor, playwright, and theatre manager in Jacobean and Caroline era London. He is best remembered for his role in the founding of the Salisbury Court Theatre.-Actor and playwright:...
, who would become a theatre manager and impressario by building the Salisbury Court Theatre
Salisbury Court Theatre
The Salisbury Court Theatre was a theatre in 17th-century London. It was located in the neighbourhood of Salisbury Court, which was formerly the London residence of the Bishops of Salisbury. Salibury Court was acquired by Richard Sackville in 1564; when Thomas Sackville was created Earl of Dorset...
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 AlleynEdward Alleyn
Edward Alleyn was an English actor who was a major figure of the Elizabethan theatre and founder of Dulwich College and Alleyn's School.-Early life:...
, 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
Prince Charles's Men
Prince Charles's Men was a playing company or troupe of actors in Jacobean and Caroline England.-The Jacobean era troupe:...
at the Salisbury Court Theatre
Salisbury Court Theatre
The Salisbury Court Theatre was a theatre in 17th-century London. It was located in the neighbourhood of Salisbury Court, which was formerly the London residence of the Bishops of Salisbury. Salibury Court was acquired by Richard Sackville in 1564; when Thomas Sackville was created Earl of Dorset...
. In December 1631 the Fortune Theatre, vacated by the Admiral's/Palsgrave's company, received the King's Revels Men
King's Revels Men
The King's Revels Men or King's Revels Company was a playing company or troupe of actors in seventeenth-century England. In the confusing theatre nomenclature of that era, it is sometimes called the second King's Revels Company, to distinguish it from an earlier troupe with the same title that was...
from the Salisbury Court for the next few years (1631–33).
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. Unfortunately, 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 AlexandriaThe Blind Beggar of AlexandriaThe 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 publication:...
, George ChapmanGeorge ChapmanGeorge Chapman was an English dramatist, translator, and poet. He was a classical scholar, and his work shows the influence of Stoicism. Chapman has been identified as the Rival Poet of Shakespeare's Sonnets by William Minto, and as an anticipator of the Metaphysical Poets...
, 1596 - An Humorous Day's MirthAn Humorous Day's MirthAn Humorous Day's Mirth is an Elizabethan era stage play, a comedy by George Chapman, first acted in 1597 and published in 1599.Algernon Charles Swinburne called Chapman's play one of the finest comedies in English...
, George Chapman, 1597 - The Downfall of Robert Earl of HuntingdonThe Downfall and The Death of Robert Earl of HuntingtonThe Downfall of Robert Earl of Huntington and The Death of Robert Earl of Huntington are two closely related Elizabethan-era stage plays on the Robin Hood legend, that were written by Anthony Munday in 1598 and published in 1601...
, Anthony MundayAnthony MundayAnthony Munday was an English dramatist and miscellaneous writer. The chief interest in Munday for the modern reader lies in his collaboration with Shakespeare and others on the play Sir Thomas More and his writings on Robin Hood.-Biography:He was once thought to have been born in 1553, because...
, 1598 - The Death of Robert Earl of HuntingdonThe Downfall and The Death of Robert Earl of HuntingtonThe Downfall of Robert Earl of Huntington and The Death of Robert Earl of Huntington are two closely related Elizabethan-era stage plays on the Robin Hood legend, that were written by Anthony Munday in 1598 and published in 1601...
, Munday and Henry ChettleHenry ChettleHenry Chettle was an English dramatist and miscellaneous writer of the Elizabethan era.The son of Robert Chettle, a London dyer, he was apprenticed in 1577 and became a member of the Stationer's Company in 1584, traveling to Cambridge on their behalf in 1588. His career as a printer and author is...
, 1598 - Englishmen for My MoneyEnglishmen for My MoneyEnglishmen for My Money, or A Woman Will Have Her Will is an Elizabethan era stage play, a comedy written by William Haughton that dates from the year 1598...
, William HaughtonWilliam HaughtonWilliam Haughton was an English playwright in the age of English Renaissance theatre. During the years 1597 to 1602 he collaborated in many plays with Henry Chettle, Thomas Dekker, John Day, Richard Hathwaye and Wentworth Smith....
, 1598 - The Shoemaker's HolidayThe Shoemaker's HolidayThe Shoemakers' Holiday, or the Gentle Craft is an Elizabethan play written by Thomas Dekker. It was first performed in 1599 by the Admiral's Men. It falls into the sub-genre of city comedy.The play was first published in 1600 by the printer Valentine Simmes...
, Thomas Dekker, 1599 - Sir John OldcastleSir John OldcastleSir John Oldcastle is an Elizabethan play about John Oldcastle, a controversial 14th-15th century rebel and Lollard who was seen by some of Shakespeare's contemporaries as a proto-Protestant martyr.-Publication:...
, Munday, Robert WilsonRobert Wilson (dramatist)Robert Wilson , was an Elizabethan dramatist who worked primarily in the 1580s and 1590s. He is also believed to have been an actor who specialized in clown roles....
, Richard HathwayeRichard HathwayeRichard Hathwaye , was an English dramatist. Little is known about Hathwaye's life. There is no evidence that he was related to his namesake Richard Hathaway, the father of Shakespeare's wife, Anne Hathaway. Hathwaye is not heard of after 1603....
, and Michael DraytonMichael DraytonMichael Drayton was an English poet who came to prominence in the Elizabethan era.-Early life:He was born at Hartshill, near Nuneaton, Warwickshire, England. Almost nothing is known about his early life, beyond the fact that in 1580 he was in the service of Thomas Goodere of Collingham,...
, 1599 - The Honest WhoreThe Honest WhoreThe Honest Whore is an early Jacobean city comedy, written in two parts; Part 1 is a collaboration between Thomas Dekker and Thomas Middleton, while Part 2 is the work of Dekker alone...
, Part 1, Dekker and Thomas MiddletonThomas MiddletonThomas Middleton was an English Jacobean playwright and poet. Middleton stands with John Fletcher and Ben Jonson as among the most successful and prolific of playwrights who wrote their best plays during the Jacobean period. He was one of the few Renaissance dramatists to achieve equal success in...
, 1604 - When You See Me You Know MeWhen You See Me You Know MeWhen You See Me You Know Me is an early Jacobean history play about Henry VIII, written by Samuel Rowley and first published in 1605.The play was acted by Prince Henry's Men, the company to which Rowley belonged through most of his acting career, and premiered most likely in 1604 at the Fortune...
, Samuel RowleySamuel RowleySamuel Rowley was a 17th century English dramatist and actor.Rowley first appears in the historical record as an associate of Philip Henslowe in the late 1590s. Initially he appears to have been an actor, perhaps a sharer, in the Admiral's Men, who performed at the Rose Theatre...
, 1605 - The Whore of Babylon, Dekker, 1607
- The Roaring GirlThe Roaring GirlThe Roaring Girl is a Jacobean stage play, a comedy written by Thomas Middleton and Thomas Dekker ca. 1607-10.The play was first published in quarto in 1611, printed by Nicholas Okes for the bookseller Thomas Archer...
, Dekker and Middleton, 1611
[See also: Sir Thomas More
Sir Thomas More (play)
Sir Thomas More is a collaborative Elizabethan play by Anthony Munday and others depicting the life and death of Thomas More. It survives only in a single manuscript, now owned by the British Library...
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