Leicester's Men
The Earl of Leicester's Men were a theater company (or group of actors) of the Elizabethan Theater . It had its heyday in the 1570s and 1580s. In many respects they were considered the most outstanding troupe of the Elizabethan drama at that time and set the standards for all theater ensembles that would follow: It was the first company to be granted a royal patent and the first to be a permanent theater related.
Beginnings
Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester , according to records, had specially employed actors appear from 1559 at the earliest; they can be detected through the 1560s and 1570s. When the Elizabethan Poor Laws were changed by a law of 1572, the situation of traveling actors changed: those who did not have patronage from a nobleman could be classified as a vagabond and subject to a range of penalties. However, those who enjoyed such protection were legally more secure than before. In a receiving letter of January 3, 1572, which James Burbage wrote on behalf of the troupe, he demands that the actors should no longer be seen as liveried assistants to the earl, but should be appointed house servants; a rating that allowed actors to enter and leave London freely and without restrictions. The letter also contained the wish for independent self-financing through its own commercial orientation, of course under his (necessary) patronage. A successful model that other troops followed. The letter was signed by Burbage, John Perkin, John Laneham, William Johnson, Robert Wilson, and Thomas Clarke. All but Clarke were also listed in the royal patent, which was overtaken on May 10, 1574, the first ever after the passage of the Restrictions Act of January 1572. The Queen's license authorized the troop (and subsequent ones)
“To use, exercise, and occupy the art and faculty of playing comedies, tragedies, interludes, stage plays and other such like ... as well within our city of London and liberties of the same, as also within the liberties and freedoms of any our cities, towns, boroughs etc. whatsoever ... throughout our Realm of England. ”“ To use, practice and employ the art and ability of performing comedies, tragedies, interludes, plays and the like, and this equally within ours City of London and its liberties [less regulated suburbs], as well as the liberties of every one of our cities, towns, districts, etc. throughout England. "
This license to the Leicester's Men also had another crucial aspect: it repealed previous regulations whereby local authorities could censor or even ban plays. With the license these rights went to the royal administration and the Lord Chamberlain and his administrator responsible for theater matters, the Master of the Revels . If the actors had received approval for their plays, they could perform them anywhere in the country without fear of the local censorship. It was these royal permits that made the Elizabethan theater flourish in the first place.
success
The Leicester's Men appeared at court in 1574 and 1575, both during the Christmas season. As servants of Leicester, the troops also had a central role in the entertainment program in 1566, 1572 and 1575, which he offered on the occasion of the Queen's visits to his castle in Kenilworth ( Warwickshire ). The last program in particular is noteworthy as it took a long time; from 9.-27. July 1575. Leicester was anxious to impress Elizabeth in a final attempt to convince her to marry him and spared no expense in doing so. Elizabeth brought a retinue of thirty-one barons and four hundred servants with her on her royal visit. Leicester entertained the Queen and much of the surrounding area with parades, fireworks, bear fights, mystery plays, hunts, banquets and theatrical performances (including a play called The Delivery of the Lady of the Lake ). The total cost was more than £ 1,700 . The event was considered a great success and was the longest sojourn on a comparable estate of any of Elizabeth's royal tours, but the Queen did not choose to marry Leicester.
With Kenilworth only 12 miles from Stratford-upon-Avon , it is entirely possible that an 11-year-old William Shakespeare was among the audience; he could later have processed his impressions in “Arion on the Dolphin's Back” in What you want .
When James Burbage and his brother-in-law John Brayne built The Theater in 1576 , the first public, commercially successful theater in England, the Leicester's Men were the first to perform at the house when it opened in the fall. The years from 1576 to 1583 were the high point of her work.
Decline
When a new troupe was formed in 1583, the Queen Elizabeth's Men , the Leicester's Men were stripped of their most prominent and talented minds: Robert Wilson, John Laneham and Richard Tarlton . William Johnson could have joined the Queen's Men at the same time or later. It is believed that the Leicester's Men were deliberately weakened to lessen the rivalry between the Earl Leicester and the Earl of Oxford . This found its constant expression in the competitive situation of their respective theater companies when it came to the favor of playing at court. Elizabeth I and her advisors viewed this competition and the nobles' egos critically, but did not succeed in stopping them. By selecting the best players from the two acting troops for her own troupe, she met the ambitious demands of the aristocrats. The Leicester's Men never found their way back to their previous reputation and success.
However, the Leicester's Men continued to exist and were documented to be on tour in 1584 and 1585. In the last year the Earl of Leicester was appointed commander of the English troops in the Netherlands (see Eighty Years War ); his march through Utrecht , Leiden and The Hague was accompanied by elaborate pageants that were held in his honor. At least one member of the Leicester's Men, William Kempe , accompanied the Earl to Holland; others may have done the same. The troupe then toured until 1588. In December 1586, they also performed at court.
With the Earl's death in 1588, the Leicester's Men ended their existence. Kempe and a few other members joined other theater companies.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Edmund Kerchever Chambers , The Elizabethan Stage, 4 volumes, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1923; Volume 2, pages 87-88; in modern language.
- ↑ “It is true; and if the hope of a happy maybe Eu. Grace can calm you down, I assure you, when our ship ran aground, and you and these few who were rescued with you were hanging on our boat, then I saw your brother, not losing courage and caution even in this extreme danger tie yourself to a strong mast that drifted on the sea; and in this way, like Arion on the dolphin's back, he swam away through the waves until I finally lost sight of him. "
- ^ FE Halliday A Shakespeare Companion 1564-1964, Baltimore, Penguin, 1964; P. 263.
- ↑ Andrew Gurr , The Shakespearean Stage 1574-1642, Third Edition, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1992; Pages 28 and 32.