King's Company
The King's Company, or King's Players, was one of two theater companies that were allowed to stage theater productions in London after the Stuart Restoration began . It existed until its merger with the second acting company from 1660 to 1682.
history
On August 21, 1660, King Charles II granted the playwright Thomas Killigrew and Sir William Davenant preliminary permission each to found a theater company ("Company"). Killigrews King's Company was supported and encouraged by the king himself; Davenants Duke's Company received patronage from his brother, the Duke of York , later King James II. These temporary privileges were later replaced by a Letters Patent , which Killigrew received on April 25, 1662, combined with a cementing of a hereditary theater monopoly for the Patent holder ("Theater Royal").
The first permanent venue for the King's Company was the Gibbon's Tennis Court . On January 28, 1661, 15 members of the King's Company signed a lease agreement with William Russell , 5th Earl of Bedford (and later 1st Duke of Bedford ) for a property on which a new theater was to be built. In 1663, when the Duke's Company resided in the much better-equipped Lincoln's Inn Fields Theater , a converted ballroom , Killigrew built his King's Playhouse , which grew out of what is now the Theater Royal Drury Lane . It burned down in 1672 and was reopened in 1674 after being rebuilt. Killigrew ran into financial troubles that worsened when the actors went on strike. The king had to intervene. In February 1677, his son Charles forced his father to take over management. In 1682 the King's Company and the Duke's Company merged to form the United Company .
Company members
In addition to the founding members, the early King's Company employed many experienced and well-known actors of the time. This first ensemble included Michael Mohun, Charles Hart, John Lacy, Edward Kynaston , Walter Clun and Thomas Betterton . However, Betterton was poached by the Duke's Company on November 5, 1661, and shortly afterwards Lord Chamberlain banned such transfers from one theater company to another. This ban also became part of the Letter patents in 1662.
In 1661 Killigrew quickly expanded his ensemble to hire the first actresses who were allowed to play on an English stage. So soon several of the then well-known names, such as Margaret Hughes, Anne Marshall, Mary Knep, Elizabeth Boutell , Katherine Corey, Elizabeth Cox, Elizabeth James, belonged to it. Just like the well-known Nell Gwyn .
Killigrew's motives for his theater venture were less influenced by artistic ambition than by monetary motives. For most of his time as artistic director, he therefore delegated the daily tasks to his leading actors, such as Hart, Lacy and Mohun. It seemed that Killigrew had no ambitions to lead the theater artistically and did not get very involved here.
The End
During the Papist conspiracy (1678-1681), the two theater companies suffered great losses and therefore decided in 1682 to merge to form the United Company. The performance continued in the Dorset Garden Theater , the previous seat of the Duke's Company, and on Drury Lane, in the theater of the former King's Company. From 1693 Christopher Rich took over the management.
Individual evidence
- ^ Judith Milhous: Thomas Betterton and the Management of Lincoln's Inn Fields, 1696–1708. Southern Illinois University Press, Carbondale 1979, p. 4.
- ^ Percy Hetherington Fitzgerald: A New History of the English Stage. Tinsley Brothers, London 1882, pp. 27-28.
- ^ Dr Anne Hermanson: The Horror Plays of the English Restoration. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., 2014 in Google Book Search
- ^ Peter Thomson: The Cambridge Introduction to English Theater, 1660-1900. Cambridge University Press, 2006, ISBN 978-0-521-83925-9 , p. 17.
- ↑ Milhous, p. 8.
- ^ John Harold Wilson: All the King's Ladies: Actresses of the Restoration. University of Chicago Press, Chicago 1958, pp. 7-22.
- ↑ Milhous, p. 4.
- ↑ Milhous, p. 12.