Edward Kynaston

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Edward Kynaston, mezzotint, 19th century

Edward Kynaston , called Ned Kynaston (* around 1640 in London , † in January 1706 ) was an English actor. He was probably one of the last male actors of his time to play female roles on the theater stage.

Life

According to contemporary reports, Kynaston was a celebrated London stage star who excelled in both female and male roles throughout his theater career. He started his stage career at a time when all female roles were traditionally played by boys or men in the theater. It wasn't until Charles II , who had spent his youth in France and seen actresses on stage, that the situation in England changed. In its 1662 decree, men were prohibited from portraying women on stage.

The main source on Ned Kynaston and his role in the theater of the Restoration era is from Samuel Pepys , who was an avid theater-goer and equally avid diary writer. On August 18, 1660 Pepys noted in his diary that he had seen John Fletcher's play The Loyall Subject in the theater, where "Kinaston [...] made the loveliest lady that I ever saw in my life". Also Colley Cibber , a successful theater director and actor Ned Kynaston mentioned in several places his autobiography "An apology for the life of Mr. Colley Cibber" of 1740. In his book he writes about Kynaston what Shakespeare monarch was concerned, he was in any Inch been a worthy and natural king. The sources from the later years of his life run dry and there are no indications as to whether and to what extent he was still present on the theater stage. Kynaston died in London in 1706 and was buried in St. Paul's Church in Covent Garden on January 8, 1706 .

Ned Kynaston in the film

Ned Kynaston is the protagonist in the film Stage Beauty (2004) based on the novel by Jeffry Hatcher . Billy Crudup plays Ned Kynaston, directed by Richard Eyre , and Claire Danes plays one of the first actresses on a British stage, Margaret Hughes .

literature

  • Their Majesties' Servants: Annals of the english stage from Thomas Betterton to Edmund Kean . London: Allan 1864. Vol. 1. Chapter 4: The Boy Actresses and The Young Ladies .
  • Sarah Hatchuel, Nathalie Vienne-Guerrin (Eds.): Shakespeare on Screen: Othello . Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press 2015. In it: Kynga Földváry: Mirroring Othello in genre films: A Double Life and stage Beauty . Pp. 177-194

Web links

Wikisource: Edward Kynaston  - Sources and full texts (English)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Charles Spencer: Prince Rupert. The Last Cavalier. London: Phoenix 2007. p. 315. ISBN 978-0-75382401-6 .
  2. ↑ The Diary of Samuel Pepys, August 18, 1660. Retrieved September 11, 2017
  3. ↑ quoted from: Their Majesties' Servants ": Annals of the english stage from Thomas Betterton to Edmund Kean, Volume 1. London: Allan 1864. p. 64.
personal data
SURNAME Kynaston, Edward
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Kynaston, Ned
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English actor
DATE OF BIRTH around 1640
PLACE OF BIRTH London
DATE OF DEATH January 1706