Nicholas Burt
Encyclopedia
Nicholas Burt or Birt or Burght among other variants, was a prominent English actor of the seventeenth century. In a long career, he was perhaps best known as the first actor to play the role of Othello in the Restoration
era.
A "Nicholas Bert" was christened on 27 May 1621, in Norwich
; the record may refer to the actor, though this is not certain. According to James Wright's Historia Histrionica
(1699
), Burt began as a boy player
with the King's Men
, an apprentice of John Shank
(died 1636). He was with the celebrated young company Beeston's Boys
in the 1638–42 period. As a young actor filling female roles, Burt gained particular notice for playing Clariana in Shirley's
Love's Cruelty
.
After the theatres closed in 1642 at the start of the English Civil War
, Burt, like some other actors, joined the Royalist army supporting the cause of King Charles I
. Like fellow actors Charles Hart
and Robert Shatterell
, Burt served as an officer in the regiment of Prince Rupert in the early and mid-1640s. He most likely saw combat in the battles of Marston Moor
and Naseby
, and perhaps at Edgehill
as well.
Once the Civil War had ended, Burt returned to acting and to the King's Men: he was one of the performers arrested on 5 February 1648, during an illegal performance of Rollo Duke of Normandy
(he played Latorch). He was also one of the ten men who tried to re-start the King's Men in December 1648, despite the Commonwealth regime's opposition to playacting.
With the Restoration, Burt's professional fortunes revived. Burt took the lead role in a 1660 production of Shakespeare's
Othello
, the first staging of that play after the theatres re-opened; Walter Clun
won fame for his portrayal of Iago
in that production. Samuel Pepys
was in the audience on 11 October 1660, and saw Burt's Othello again in 1669, as recorded in his Diary. (After that time, though, Burt lost the role to Hart.)
In 1661 Burt became one of the thirteen actors who were original sharers in the newly-organized King's Company
under the management of Thomas Killigrew
. He continued with the King's Company until 1678. When the troupe's theatre, the Theatre Royal
in Drury Lane
, burned down in 1672, the funds to build its replacement had to be raised largely from the actors; Burt invested £160 in the project.
Beyond Othello, Burt played a range of significant roles, in revivals of works by Shakespeare, Jonson
and Fletcher
:
— and contemporary works, by John Dryden
:
— and by other dramatists:
The date of Burt's death is not known; he was alive at least until 1690.
English Restoration
The Restoration of the English monarchy began in 1660 when the English, Scottish and Irish monarchies were all restored under Charles II after the Interregnum that followed the Wars of the Three Kingdoms...
era.
A "Nicholas Bert" was christened on 27 May 1621, in Norwich
Norwich
Norwich is a city in England. It is the regional administrative centre and county town of Norfolk. During the 11th century, Norwich was the largest city in England after London, and one of the most important places in the kingdom...
; the record may refer to the actor, though this is not certain. According to James Wright's Historia Histrionica
Historia Histrionica
Historia Histrionica is a 1699 literary work by James Wright , on the subject of theatre in England in the seventeenth century. It is an essential resource for information on the actors and theatrical life of the period, providing data available nowhere else.The work's full title is Historia...
(1699
1699 in literature
The year 1699 in literature involved some significant events.-Events:*Jonathan Swift is out of work after the death of his employer, Sir William Temple.*Joseph Addison receives a pension of £300 to enable him to travel abroad.-New books:...
), Burt began as a boy player
Boy player
Boy player is a common term for the adolescent males employed by Medieval and English Renaissance playing companies. Some boy players worked for the mainstream companies and performed the female roles, as women did not perform on the English stage in this period...
with the 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...
, an apprentice of 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:...
(died 1636). He was with the celebrated young company Beeston's Boys
Beeston's Boys
Beeston's Boys was the popular and colloquial name of The King and Queen's Young Company, a troupe of boy actors of the Caroline period, active mainly in the years 1637–1642.-Origin:...
in the 1638–42 period. As a young actor filling female roles, Burt gained particular notice for playing Clariana in Shirley's
James Shirley
James Shirley was an English dramatist.He belonged to the great period of English dramatic literature, but, in Lamb's words, he "claims a place among the worthies of this period, not so much for any transcendent genius in himself, as that he was the last of a great race, all of whom spoke nearly...
Love's Cruelty
Love's Cruelty
Love's Cruelty is a Caroline-era stage play, a tragedy written by James Shirley, and first published in 1640.The play was licensed for performance by Sir Henry Herbert, the Master of the Revels, on November 14, 1631. Like the majority of Shirley's dramas, it was acted by Queen Henrietta's Men at...
.
After the theatres closed in 1642 at the start of the English Civil War
English Civil War
The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...
, Burt, like some other actors, joined the Royalist army supporting the cause of King Charles I
Charles I of England
Charles I was King of England, King of Scotland, and King of Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. Charles engaged in a struggle for power with the Parliament of England, attempting to obtain royal revenue whilst Parliament sought to curb his Royal prerogative which Charles...
. Like fellow actors Charles Hart
Charles Hart (17th-century actor)
Charles Hart was a prominent British Restoration actor.A Charles Hart was christened on 11 December 1625, in the parish of St. Giles Cripplegate, in London. It is not absolutely certain that this was the actor, though the name was not common at the time...
and Robert Shatterell
Robert Shatterell
Robert Shatterell was an English actor of the seventeenth century. He was one of the limited group of actors who began their careers in the final period of English Renaissance theatre, and resumed stage work in the Restoration, after the long theatre closure of the English Civil War and the...
, Burt served as an officer in the regiment of Prince Rupert in the early and mid-1640s. He most likely saw combat in the battles of Marston Moor
Battle of Marston Moor
The Battle of Marston Moor was fought on 2 July 1644, during the First English Civil War of 1642–1646. The combined forces of the Scottish Covenanters under the Earl of Leven and the English Parliamentarians under Lord Fairfax and the Earl of Manchester defeated the Royalists commanded by Prince...
and Naseby
Battle of Naseby
The Battle of Naseby was the key battle of the first English Civil War. On 14 June 1645, the main army of King Charles I was destroyed by the Parliamentarian New Model Army commanded by Sir Thomas Fairfax and Oliver Cromwell.-The Campaign:...
, and perhaps at Edgehill
Battle of Edgehill
The Battle of Edgehill was the first pitched battle of the First English Civil War. It was fought near Edge Hill and Kineton in southern Warwickshire on Sunday, 23 October 1642....
as well.
Once the Civil War had ended, Burt returned to acting and to the King's Men: he was one of the performers arrested on 5 February 1648, during an illegal performance of Rollo Duke of Normandy
Rollo Duke of Normandy
Rollo Duke of Normandy, also known as The Bloody Brother, is a play written in collaboration by John Fletcher, Philip Massinger, Ben Jonson, and George Chapman. Scholars have disputed almost everything about the play; but it was probably written sometime in the 1612–24 era and later revised,...
(he played Latorch). He was also one of the ten men who tried to re-start the King's Men in December 1648, despite the Commonwealth regime's opposition to playacting.
With the Restoration, Burt's professional fortunes revived. Burt took the lead role in a 1660 production of Shakespeare's
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"...
Othello
Othello
The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in approximately 1603, and based on the Italian short story "Un Capitano Moro" by Cinthio, a disciple of Boccaccio, first published in 1565...
, the first staging of that play after the theatres re-opened; Walter Clun
Walter Clun
Walter Clun was a noted English actor of the seventeenth century. His career spanned the difficult period when the theatres were closed during the English Civil War and the Interregnum, from 1642 to 1660....
won fame for his portrayal of Iago
Iago
Iago is a fictional character in Shakespeare's Othello . The character's source is traced to Giovanni Battista Giraldi Cinthio's tale "Un Capitano Moro" in Gli Hecatommithi . There, the character is simply "the ensign". Iago is a soldier and Othello's ancient . He is the husband of Emilia,...
in that production. Samuel Pepys
Samuel Pepys
Samuel Pepys FRS, MP, JP, was an English naval administrator and Member of Parliament who is now most famous for the diary he kept for a decade while still a relatively young man...
was in the audience on 11 October 1660, and saw Burt's Othello again in 1669, as recorded in his Diary. (After that time, though, Burt lost the role to Hart.)
In 1661 Burt became one of the thirteen actors who were original sharers in the newly-organized King's Company
King's Company
The King's Company was one of two enterprises granted the rights to mount theatrical productions in London at the start of the English Restoration. It existed from 1660 to 1682.-History:...
under the management of Thomas Killigrew
Thomas Killigrew
Thomas Killigrew was an English dramatist and theatre manager. He was a witty, dissolute figure at the court of King Charles II of England.-Life and work:...
. He continued with the King's Company until 1678. When the troupe's theatre, the Theatre Royal
Theatre Royal, Drury Lane
The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane is a West End theatre in Covent Garden, in the City of Westminster, a borough of London. The building faces Catherine Street and backs onto Drury Lane. The building standing today is the most recent in a line of four theatres at the same location dating back to 1663,...
in Drury Lane
Drury Lane
Drury Lane is a street on the eastern boundary of the Covent Garden area of London, running between Aldwych and High Holborn. The northern part is in the borough of Camden and the southern part in the City of Westminster....
, burned down in 1672, the funds to build its replacement had to be raised largely from the actors; Burt invested £160 in the project.
Beyond Othello, Burt played a range of significant roles, in revivals of works by Shakespeare, Jonson
Ben Jonson
Benjamin Jonson was an English Renaissance dramatist, poet and actor. A contemporary of William Shakespeare, he is best known for his satirical plays, particularly Volpone, The Alchemist, and Bartholomew Fair, which are considered his best, and his lyric poems...
and Fletcher
John Fletcher (playwright)
John Fletcher was a Jacobean playwright. Following William Shakespeare as house playwright for the King's Men, he was among the most prolific and influential dramatists of his day; both during his lifetime and in the early Restoration, his fame rivalled Shakespeare's...
:
- Prince Hal in Shakespeare's Henry IV plays
- Cleremont in Jonson's EpiceneEpicoene, or the Silent WomanEpicœne, or The silent woman, also known as The Epicene, is a comedy by Renaissance playwright Ben Jonson. It was originally performed by the Blackfriars Children, a group of boy players, in 1609...
- Corvino in VolponeVolponeVolpone is a comedy by Ben Jonson first produced in 1606, drawing on elements of city comedy, black comedy and beast fable...
- Surly in The AlchemistThe Alchemist (play)The Alchemist is a comedy by English playwright Ben Jonson. First performed in 1610 by the King's Men, it is generally considered Jonson's best and most characteristic comedy; Samuel Taylor Coleridge claimed that it had one of the three most perfect plots in literature...
- Cicero in Catiline
- Seleucus in Fletcher's The Humorous LieutenantThe Humorous LieutenantThe Humorous Lieutenant, also known as The Noble Enemies or Demetrius and Enanthe, is a Jacobean era stage play, a tragicomedy written by John Fletcher...
- Don John Decastrio in Rule a Wife and Have a WifeRule a Wife and Have a WifeRule a Wife and Have a Wife is a late Jacobean stage play, a comedy written by John Fletcher. It was first performed in 1624 and first published in 1640....
- Tygranes in A King and No KingA King and No KingA King and No King is a Jacobean era stage play, a tragicomedy written by Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher and first published in 1619. It has traditionally been among the most highly-praised and popular works in the canon of Fletcher and his collaborators.The play's title became almost...
- the Elder Loveless in The Scornful LadyThe Scornful LadyThe Scornful Lady is a Jacobean era stage play, a comedy written by Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher, and first published in 1616, the year of Beaumont's death...
- Charles in The Elder BrotherThe Elder BrotherThe Elder Brother is an early seventeenth-century stage play, a comedy written by John Fletcher and Philip Massinger. Apparently dating from 1625, it may have been the last play Fletcher worked on before his August 1625 death.-Date:...
— and contemporary works, by John Dryden
John Dryden
John Dryden was an influential English poet, literary critic, translator, and playwright who dominated the literary life of Restoration England to such a point that the period came to be known in literary circles as the Age of Dryden.Walter Scott called him "Glorious John." He was made Poet...
:
- Palamede in Marriage A-la-ModeMarriage A-la-ModeMarriage à la Mode is a Restoration comedy by John Dryden, first performed in London in 1673 by the King's Company. It is written in a combination of prose, blank verse and heroic couplets...
- Perez in AmboynaAmboyna (play)Amboyna, or the Cruelties of the Dutch to the English Merchants is a tragedy by John Dryden written in 1673. Its subject is the Amboyna massacre that took place on Ambon Island in 1623....
- Lysimantes in The Maiden QueenThe Maiden QueenSecret Love, or The Maiden Queen is a 1667 tragicomedy written by John Dryden. The play, commonly known by its more distinctive subtitle, was acted by the King's Company at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane . The premiere occurred on 2 March, and was a popular success...
- Don Lopez in An Evening's LoveAn Evening's LoveAn Evening's Love, or The Mock Astrologer is a comedy in prose by John Dryden. It was first performed before Charles II and Queen Catherine by the King's Company at the Theatre Royal on Bridges Street, London, on Friday, 12 June 1668...
- Vasquez in The Indian EmperourThe Indian EmperourThe Indian Emperour, or the Conquest of Mexico by the Spaniards, being the Sequel of The Indian Queen is an English Restoration era stage play, a heroic drama written by John Dryden that was first performed in the Spring of 1665...
- Camillo in The AssignationThe AssignationThe Assignation, or Love in a Nunnery is a Restoration comedy written by John Dryden. The play was first acted late in 1672, by the King's Company at their theatre at Lincoln's Inn Fields, but was not a success with its audience....
— and by other dramatists:
- Maherbal in Lee'sNathaniel LeeNathaniel Lee was an English dramatist.He was the son of Dr Richard Lee, a Presbyterian clergyman who was rector of Hatfield and held many preferments under the Commonwealth...
Sophonisba, or Hannibal's Overthrow - Afterwit in Wilson'sJohn Wilson (playwright)John Wilson was an English playwright.He was son of Aaron Wilson, a royalist divine, and was born in London in 1627. He matriculated from Exeter College, Oxford, in 1644, and entered Lincoln's Inn two years later, being called to the bar in 1649...
The Cheats - Count Guesselin in Boyle'sRoger Boyle, 1st Earl of OrreryRoger Boyle redirects here. For others of this name, see Roger Boyle Roger Boyle, 1st Earl of Orrery was a British soldier, statesman and dramatist. He was the third surviving son of Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Cork and Richard's second wife, Catherine Fenton. He was created Baron of Broghill on...
The Black PrinceThe Black Prince (play)The Black Prince is a Restoration era stage play, a historical tragedy written by Roger Boyle, 1st Earl of Orrery. It premiered on stage in 1667 and was first published in 1669...
.
The date of Burt's death is not known; he was alive at least until 1690.