Queen Anne's Men
Encyclopedia
Queen Anne's Men was a playing company
, or troupe of actors, in Jacobean era
London. (In their own era they were known colloquially as the Queen's Men — as were Queen Elizabeth's Men
and Queen Henrietta's Men
, in their eras.)
in 1603, and named after its patron, James's wife Anne of Denmark
. It was a combination of two previously-existing companies, Oxford's Men and Worcester's Men
. Among the company's most important members were Christopher Beeston
, its manager, and Thomas Heywood
, the actor-dramatist who wrote many of its plays, including The Rape of Lucrece (printed 1608
) and The Golden Age (printed 1611
). William Kempe
finished his career with this company, though he died c. 1603.
, Thomas Greene, John Duke
, James Holt, Robert Beeston, Robert Lee, Robert Pallant, and Thomas Swinerton. The same ten men are listed in a license granted to the company in 1609 (though Pallant is misnamed "Richard").
Richard Perkins would develop into the company's leading actor, and acquire a reputation as a major tragedian. John Duke had come to Worcester's from the Lord Chamberlain's Men
, along with Christopher Beeston, in 1602. Little is known of Robert Beeston, though the common name suggests he was a relative of Christopher. (Pairs of relatives were not uncommon in acting troupes in this era: the brothers John and Laurence Dutton in Oxford's Men and Queen Elizabeth's Men
in the 1580s; Anthony and Humphrey Jeffes in the Admiral's/Prince Henry's Men
in the early 17th century. Robert Pallant
, the son of the man in Queen Anne's, would play female roles for the King's Men
c. 1620.)
Thomas Greene was the company's major comedian; he was reputed to have once portrayed a baboon onstage. Greene was so closely identified with his role as Bubble in a 1611 play that the play became indelibly renamed Greene's Tu Quoque
.
A host of other actors were in the company over its tenure. See Richard Baxter
and William Robbins
for examples.
, John Day
, and George Wilkins
, there in 1607
; but they also acted the same play at the Red Bull Theatre
in Clerkenwell
that same year, becoming the first company to play there. John Webster
's tragedy
The White Devil
received a disastrous premiere at the Red Bull on an overcast winter day in 1612
.
Despite their royal patronage, Queen Anne's Men appear to have performed only sporadically at Court in their first decade — something less than once a year on average. On January 12 and 13, 1612, the company joined with the King's Men
for Court performances of two Queen's company's plays, The Silver Age and The Rape of Lucrece. Queen Anne's Men played twice more at Court in the winter of 1613–14, three times in the following winter, and four times in 1615–16. They toured widely every summer throughout this period.
.] Yet their style of drama had some surprising aspects. They were creative in terms of special effects: consider these stage directions from Heywood's The Silver Age, written for and acted by the company —
, in the increasingly fashionable Drury Lane
. This final move, which brought significantly higher admission prices, engendered indignation among their audience: the Cockpit was set on fire during a Shrove Tuesday
riot in 1617 and had to be rebuilt. The Queen's troupe seems to have remained at the Cockpit for only a relatively brief time; within a couple of years they were back at the Red Bull.
The actors lost their patron at the death of Queen Anne in 1619; they continued on as the Company of the Revels, often known simply as the Red Bull Company after their theatre. Their final years were marked by a major legal dispute: Thomas Greene's widow, remarried as Susan Baskervile
, sued for moneys owed her through her late husband's share in the troupe and loans she had extended over the years. The outcome of the so-called Baskerville or Worth/Baskerville suit was that the actors lost and the company was forced to dissolve in 1623.
Some members moved on to other troupes; Richard Perkins, for example, would acquire a reputation as perhaps the major tragedian of his generation while acting with Queen Henrietta's Men from 1625 to 1642. Christopher Beeston would attain prominence as the dominant theatre manager and impressario of the 1620s and 1630s.
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 Jacobean era
Jacobean era
The Jacobean era refers to the period in English and Scottish history that coincides with the reign of King James VI of Scotland, who also inherited the crown of England in 1603 as James I...
London. (In their own era they were known colloquially as the Queen's Men — as were 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...
and Queen Henrietta's Men
Queen Henrietta's Men
Queen Henrietta's Men was an important playing company or troupe of actors in Caroline era London. At their peak of popularity, Queen Henrietta's Men were the second leading troupe of the day, after only the King's Men.-Beginnings:...
, in their eras.)
Formation
The group was formed on the accession of James IJames I of England
James VI and I was King of Scots as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the English and Scottish crowns on 24 March 1603...
in 1603, and named after its patron, James's wife Anne of Denmark
Anne of Denmark
Anne of Denmark was queen consort of Scotland, England, and Ireland as the wife of King James VI and I.The second daughter of King Frederick II of Denmark, Anne married James in 1589 at the age of fourteen and bore him three children who survived infancy, including the future Charles I...
. It was a combination of two previously-existing companies, Oxford's Men and 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...
. Among the company's most important members were Christopher Beeston
Christopher Beeston
Christopher Beeston was a successful actor and a powerful theatrical impresario in early 17th century London. He was associated with a number of playwrights, particularly Thomas Heywood.-Early life:...
, its manager, and Thomas Heywood
Thomas Heywood
Thomas Heywood was a prominent English playwright, actor, and author whose peak period of activity falls between late Elizabethan and early Jacobean theatre.-Early years:...
, the actor-dramatist who wrote many of its plays, including The Rape of Lucrece (printed 1608
1608 in literature
The year 1608 in literature involved some significant events.-Events:*January 10 - Ben Jonson's The Masque of Beauty is performed by Queen Anne and her retinue at the Banqueting House, Whitehall, a sequel to The Masque of Blackness....
) and The Golden Age (printed 1611
1611 in literature
The year 1611 in literature involved some significant events.-Events:*January 1 - Oberon, the Faery Prince, a masque written by Ben Jonson and designed by Inigo Jones, is performed at Whitehall Palace....
). William Kempe
William Kempe
William Kempe , also spelt Kemp, was an English actor and dancer specializing in comic roles and best known for having been one of the original players in early dramas by William Shakespeare...
finished his career with this company, though he died c. 1603.
Personnel
In 1604, ten members of the new-formed company were granted the sum of four and a half pounds each, to buy red cloth for their livery for the March 15 coronation procession. The ten were Beeston, Heywood, Richard PerkinsRichard Perkins (17th-century actor)
Richard Perkins was a prominent early seventeenth-century actor, most famous for his performance in the role of Barabas in Christopher Marlowe's The Jew of Malta...
, Thomas Greene, John Duke
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...
, James Holt, Robert Beeston, Robert Lee, Robert Pallant, and Thomas Swinerton. The same ten men are listed in a license granted to the company in 1609 (though Pallant is misnamed "Richard").
Richard Perkins would develop into the company's leading actor, and acquire a reputation as a major tragedian. John Duke had come to Worcester's from the Lord Chamberlain's Men
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...
, along with Christopher Beeston, in 1602. Little is known of Robert Beeston, though the common name suggests he was a relative of Christopher. (Pairs of relatives were not uncommon in acting troupes in this era: the brothers John and Laurence Dutton in Oxford's Men and 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...
in the 1580s; Anthony and Humphrey Jeffes in the Admiral's/Prince Henry's Men
Admiral's Men
The Admiral's Men was a playing company or troupe of actors in the Elizabethan and Stuart eras...
in the early 17th century. Robert Pallant
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...
, the son of the man in Queen Anne's, would play female roles for 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...
c. 1620.)
Thomas Greene was the company's major comedian; he was reputed to have once portrayed a baboon onstage. Greene was so closely identified with his role as Bubble in a 1611 play that the play became indelibly renamed Greene's Tu Quoque
Greene's Tu Quoque
Greene's Tu Quoque, also known as The City Gallant, is a Jacobean era stage play, a comedy written by John Cooke. The play was a major popular success upon its premier, and became something of a legend in the theatre lore of the seventeenth century.-Performance:Cooke's play was performed by Queen...
.
A host of other actors were in the company over its tenure. See Richard Baxter
Richard Baxter (actor)
Richard Baxter , or Backster, was a seventeenth-century actor, who worked in some of the leading theatre companies of his era...
and William Robbins
William Robbins (actor)
William Robbins , also Robins, Robinson, or Robson, was a prominent comic actor in the Jacobean and Caroline eras....
for examples.
Theatres and performances
Queen Anne's Men originally performed at the Curtain playhouse — they acted The Travels of the Three English Brothers, by William RowleyWilliam Rowley
William Rowley was an English Jacobean dramatist, best known for works written in collaboration with more successful writers. His date of birth is estimated to have been c. 1585; he was buried on 11 February 1626...
, John Day
John Day (dramatist)
John Day was an English dramatist of the Elizabethan and Jacobean periods.-Life:He was born at Cawston, Norfolk, and educated at Ely. He became a sizar of Caius College, Cambridge, in 1592, but was expelled in the next year for stealing a book...
, and George Wilkins
George Wilkins
George Wilkins was an English dramatist and pamphleteer best known for his probable collaboration with Shakespeare on the play Pericles, Prince of Tyre. By profession he was an inn-keeper, but he was also apparently involved in criminal activities.-Life:Wilkins was an inn-keeper in Cow-Cross,...
, there in 1607
1607 in literature
The year 1607 in literature involved some significant events.-Events:*February 2 - The King's Men perform Barnes's The Devil's Charter at Court.*June 5 - John Hall marries Susanna, daughter of William Shakespeare....
; but they also acted the same play at the Red Bull Theatre
Red Bull Theatre
The Red Bull was a playhouse in London during the 17th century. For more than four decades, it entertained audiences drawn primarily from the northern suburbs, developing a reputation for rowdy, often disruptive audiences...
in Clerkenwell
Clerkenwell
Clerkenwell is an area of central London in the London Borough of Islington. From 1900 to 1965 it was part of the Metropolitan Borough of Finsbury. The well after which it was named was rediscovered in 1924. The watchmaking and watch repairing trades were once of great importance...
that same year, becoming the first company to play there. John Webster
John Webster
John Webster was an English Jacobean dramatist best known for his tragedies The White Devil and The Duchess of Malfi, which are often regarded as masterpieces of the early 17th-century English stage. He was a contemporary of William Shakespeare.- Biography :Webster's life is obscure, and the dates...
's tragedy
Tragedy
Tragedy is a form of art based on human suffering that offers its audience pleasure. While most cultures have developed forms that provoke this paradoxical response, tragedy refers to a specific tradition of drama that has played a unique and important role historically in the self-definition of...
The White Devil
The White Devil
The White Devil is a revenge tragedy from 1612 by English playwright John Webster . A notorious failure when it premiered, Webster complained the play was acted in the dead of winter before an unreceptive audience. The play's complexity, sophistication and satire made it a poor fit with the...
received a disastrous premiere at the Red Bull on an overcast winter day in 1612
1612 in literature
The year 1612 in literature involved some significant events.-Events:*January 6 - Ben Jonson's masque Love Restored is performed.*January 12 - The King's Men and Queen Anne's Men unite for the first of two Court performances in January, with Thomas Heywood's The Silver Age*January 13 - The King's...
.
Despite their royal patronage, Queen Anne's Men appear to have performed only sporadically at Court in their first decade — something less than once a year on average. On January 12 and 13, 1612, the company joined 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...
for Court performances of two Queen's company's plays, The Silver Age and The Rape of Lucrece. Queen Anne's Men played twice more at Court in the winter of 1613–14, three times in the following winter, and four times in 1615–16. They toured widely every summer throughout this period.
Style
The company acquired a reputation for playing relatively unsophisticated drama for a rowdy audience. [For more on their theatre and its audience, see: Swetnam the Woman-HaterSwetnam the Woman-Hater
Swetnam the Woman-Hater Arraigned by Women is a Jacobean era stage play, an anonymous comedy that was part of an anti-feminist controversy of the 1615–20 period.-Performance and publication:...
.] Yet their style of drama had some surprising aspects. They were creative in terms of special effects: consider these stage directions from Heywood's The Silver Age, written for and acted by the company —
- "Enter Pluto with a club of fire, a burning crown...and a guard of devils, all with burning weapons"
- "Jupiter appears in his glory under a rainbow"
- "Thunder, lightnings, Jupiter descends in his majesty, his thunderbolt burning"
- "...fireworks all over the house."
Later years
In 1617 the company moved to the Cockpit TheatreCockpit Theatre
The Cockpit was a theatre in London, operating from 1616 to around 1665. It was the first theatre to be located near Drury Lane. After damage in 1617, it was christened The Phoenix....
, in the increasingly fashionable 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....
. This final move, which brought significantly higher admission prices, engendered indignation among their audience: the Cockpit was set on fire during a Shrove Tuesday
Shrove Tuesday
Shrove Tuesday is a term used in English-speaking countries, especially in Ireland, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Philippines, Germany, and parts of the United States for the day preceding Ash Wednesday, the first day of the season of fasting and prayer called Lent.The...
riot in 1617 and had to be rebuilt. The Queen's troupe seems to have remained at the Cockpit for only a relatively brief time; within a couple of years they were back at the Red Bull.
The actors lost their patron at the death of Queen Anne in 1619; they continued on as the Company of the Revels, often known simply as the Red Bull Company after their theatre. Their final years were marked by a major legal dispute: Thomas Greene's widow, remarried as Susan Baskervile
Susan Baskervile
Susan Shore Browne Greene Baskervile , or Baskerville, was one of the most influential and significant women involved in English Renaissance theatre, as theatre investor, litigant, and wife, widow, and mother of actors....
, sued for moneys owed her through her late husband's share in the troupe and loans she had extended over the years. The outcome of the so-called Baskerville or Worth/Baskerville suit was that the actors lost and the company was forced to dissolve in 1623.
Some members moved on to other troupes; Richard Perkins, for example, would acquire a reputation as perhaps the major tragedian of his generation while acting with Queen Henrietta's Men from 1625 to 1642. Christopher Beeston would attain prominence as the dominant theatre manager and impressario of the 1620s and 1630s.