Lord Strange's Men
The Lord Strange's Men were a theater company of the Elizabethan era , consisting of followers of Ferdinando Stanley , who held the title of Baron Strange (pronounced: strang ). They only became better known at the end of their careers in the late 1580s and early 1590s. When Stanley inherited his father's title on September 25, 1593, the troupe was renamed Earl of Derby's Men .
history
Beginnings
Ensembles under this name already existed in the 1560s and 1570s. Ferdinando's father, Henry Stanley, 4th Earl of Derby , also employed his own actors before and after 1582, the year he received his title of nobility. Another ensemble composition was active at the royal court in the 1580s (1580/81, 1583, 1585/86) . Which is to be taken literally: They were a group of acrobats under the direction of John Symons , known as "the Tumbler ". In 1588 the troupe was reorganized: Symons and the other acrobats left the ensemble to join the Queen Elizabeth's Men , a competing troupe. The Lord Strange's now turned into an acting company; William Kempe , Thomas Pope and George Bryan , the later members of the famous Lord Chamberlain's Men , the troupe around William Shakespeare , could have been one of them.
In November 1589 they fell into the wake of the Marprelate controversy as so-called anti-Martinists and the Lord Mayor of London forbade the troupe to hold further theater performances within the city. Defying the ban, they performed immediately on November 5th at the Cross (e) Keys Inn , a London inn on Gracechurch Street (this inn, now vacated, was opposite the main entrance to Leadenhall Market ). It is believed that some members ended up in jail that night. The Cross Keys Inn subsequently became one of the preferred venues for Lord Strange's Men.
From 1590
The troop was associated with the Lord Admiral's Men from 1590 to 1597 ; in the winter of 1591 the Strange's Men gave six performances at court. They also appeared at The Theater and possibly the Curtain Theater as well . One of her pieces has been preserved along with the cast list: Richard Burbage , William Sly , Richard Cowley and Augustine Phillips played in The Seven Deadly Sins .
Between February and June 1592 they worked at the Philip Henslowes Rose Theater , where they gave a repertoire of 23 plays, including one or more parts of the Shakespearean trilogy Henry VI. (Drama) . It was first performed on March 3, 1592 and was a huge box office hit. It was then performed 13 more times. Another piece was A Knack to Know a Knave , first performed on June 10, 1592. The author is unknown; it may have been penned by Robert Greene , George Peele or Thomas Nashe . For some time now, Shakespeare has also been brought into play as an author.
The Strange's Men gave three more performances at court in the winter of 1592/93 when the bubonic plague broke out in London on January 28, 1593 . The epidemic brought almost all theater operations in the capital to a standstill.
An ensemble made up of members of the Strange's and Admirals , led by Edward Alleyn , toured overland in 1593/94, stopping off in Kent , Southampton , Bath , Bristol , Shrewsbury and possibly York and Chester . They also performed in Leicester and Coventry .
When the troops were traveling in East Anglia and Hampshire in April 1594 , they heard the news of the death of their patron, Ferdinando Stanley. They returned to London a month later, and the plague there also decreased. The company experienced a radical reorganization: many members left the troops and formed a new association under the patronage of Lord Hunsdon , who held the function of Lord Chamberlains in England . Under the name of Lord Chamberlain's Men , the troupe with its well-known members William Shakespeare and Richard Burbage would go down in cultural history a short time later.
Derby's Men
The remaining part of the previous ensemble continued to work under the name Derby's Men, which they had been wearing since the previous year. Here was the patron William Stanley, 6th Earl of Derby . The Derby's Men focus their activities on touring the provinces outside of London. They did so until their dissolution in 1618; However, they also gave performances in London under the direction of actor Robert Browne; including four appearances at court in 1600 and 1601.
literature
- Lawrence Manley, Sally-Beth MacLean: Lord Strange's Men and Their Plays , Yale University Press , 2014, 475 pages, online in Google Book Search
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ FE Halliday : A Shakespeare Companion 1564-1964 Baltimore, Penguin, 1964; Pages 133-134.
- ^ Edmund Kerchever Chambers , The Elizabethan Stage , 4 volumes, Clarendon Press, Oxford 1923; Volume 2, pages 118-27.
- ↑ Chambers, Volume 2, pages 118-120.
- ↑ Lawrence Manley, Sally-Beth MacLean: Lord Strange's Men and Their Plays in Google Book Search
- ^ Henslowe's Diary, edited by RA Foakes and RT Rickert, Cambridge University Press, 1961, pp. 16-19
- ↑ Hanspeter Born (ed.): Why Greene was Angry at Shakespeare . Journal: Medieval and Renaissance Drama , Issue 25, 2012, pp. 133-173 (English, online ).
- ↑ Arthur F. Kinney, Thomas Warren Hopper: A New Companion to Renaissance Drama , John Wiley & Sons , New Jersey 2017
- ↑ Chambers, Volume 2, pp. 127, 192.
- ^ Chambers, Volume 2, pages 126-7, online