Nathan Field

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Portrait of Nathan Field, around 1615

Nathan Field (also known under the nickname Nathaniel after the death of an older brother and also sometimes written Feild ) (* 1587 ; † probably 1620 , possibly 1633 ) was an English playwright of the Renaissance and was one of the leading actors in Elizabethan theater .

Live and act

Nathan Field was probably born in October 1587 in the parish of St. Giles in Cripplegate , London , to the clergyman John Field (died 1587-8); his older brother Theophilus Field was Bishop of Llandaff and Hereford . The exact date of birth of Nathan Fields is not known; his baptism took place on October 17, 1587. He probably died in 1620; however, some older sources also give 1633 as the year of his death.

Field's father belonged to the Puritan opponents of Elizabethan theater and emerged as the author of the anti-theater work A Godly Exhortation by Occasion of the Late Judgment of God at Parris-garden (1583, reprinted by Garland Verlag, New York 1974). Due to the early death of his father, the still very young Nathan was not influenced by his theater-critical views.

Although Nathan Field probably initially did not intend to pursue a theater career due to his origins, he became one of the most successful actors in the group of Children of the Queen's Revels , as the members of the Chapels Royal were called at that time, as a boy actor Services as well as at royal ceremonial acts. As a member of this drama troupe, as evidenced by the cast lists of the Blackfriars' Boys , he took on various leading roles, for example in performances of Ben Jonson's satirical comedies Cynthia’s Revels (1600) or The Poetaster (1601) and later in Jonson's comedy Epicœne, or The Silent Woman (1608). In 1606 Field also played the title role in George Chapman's Jacobean tragedy Bussy d'Ambois ; In 1614 he appeared in Jonson's Bartholomew Fair before King James I for what was then an extremely lavish payment of £ 10. Presumably in the period before 1619 he was accepted into the acting troupe of the King's Men ; His affiliation is documented for the first time in a surviving entry from 1619. The group of King's Men was under royal sponsorship and patronage; she was already in the Elizabethan times with the participation of Shakespeare as one of the most successful actors of this age.

As a leading actor in the King's Men ensemble, Nathan Field also most likely played the roles of Voltore in Jonsons Volpone and Face in The Alchemist . He has also appeared in a number of John Fletcher's plays and in various works by Shakespeare. It can also be assumed that Field had various appearances in numerous other performances of the most successful stage works of his time, which, however, can no longer be precisely verified. Irish literary scholar and Shakespearean scholar Edmond Malone suggested that Nathan Field mainly played female roles in the King's Men performances, while other scholars suggest that Field played the roles of younger characters in the Kings's Men.

The outstanding reputation that Field enjoyed as an actor among the theater audiences at the time is illustrated by an allusion in Johnson's Bartholomew Fair (1614). When asked about the best actor, the "Field" in the stage ensemble, Nathan Field's performance is equated with that of Burbage , one of the legendary stage actors and theater owners of the time. In the first folio edition of Shakespeare's works in 1623, Field's name appears in the opening credits in 17th position among the most important actors of the time. Likewise, in later publications, such as A Short Discourse of the English Stage by the English poet and playwright Richard Flecknoe at the end of his pastoral tragic comedy Love's Kingdom (1664), the contemporary appreciation of Field's importance as an actor is again emphasized.

The two comedies, which are attributed to Nathan Field as the sole author, were possibly created under the influence of Jonson, probably before 1611. Both pieces proved to be popular with audiences and deal with the boisterous and boisterous life in London at the time in a clearly structured way. The first of Fields' two comedies, A Woman is a Weathercock , which was also performed at court and first printed in 1612, aims in satirical form at the inconsistency and fickleness of the female sex, while the second, Amends for Ladies , was published in 1618 , withdraws this accusation, as already indicated by the title. Both comedies were again included in the 1825-27 by John Payne Collier and 1874-76 by William C. Hazlitt again edited collection of Robert Dodsley's Old Plays (1744) and classified as excellent comedies of their kind ( excellent comedies in their class ).

In addition, Field co-authored the tragedy The Fatal Dowry with Philip Massinger , which appeared in print under their common name in 1632. In addition, in today's research it is considered proven or at least very likely that Field contributed to a greater or lesser extent as a co-author of various pieces by Fletcher, above all to the morality game Four Plays, or Moral Representations, in One (1608-13) and together with Massinger on the tragicomedies The Honest Man's Fortune (1613) and The Knight of Malta (1619). Presumably in collaboration with Fletcher as the main author and possibly Massinger as a further co-author, Field also worked on the tragicomedy The Queen of Corinth (1616-18, printed 1647) as an author.

In addition, Nathan Field contributed under his initials NF epidictic praise verses to Fletcher's shepherd game Faithful Shepherdess (1608-10).

According to the entries in the registers of the parishes of St. Anne in Blackfriars and St Andrew-by-the-Wardrobe , several children of Nathan Field and his wife Anne Field were baptized there between 1619 and 1627. Field himself presumably retired from the stage around 1623. According to the above entries, Field was buried on February 20, 1632 or 1633. However, these sources are not undisputed in research; the exact circumstances as well as the time of death Fields can no longer be determined with sufficient certainty. For example, the renowned literary scholars, Shakespeare scholars and connoisseurs of the Elizabethan era Michael Dobson and Stanley Wells give Fields 1620 as the year of death.

Works

As the sole author

  • A Woman is a Weathercock (printed 1612)
  • Amends for Ladies (printed 1618)

Together with Fletcher

  • Four Plays, or Moral Representations, in One (1608–1613, printed 1647)

Together with Massinger

  • The Fatal Dowry (1619, printed 1632)

Together with Fletcher and probably Massinger

  • The Honest Man's Fortune (1613, printed 1647)
  • The Queen of Corinth (1616-1618, printed 1647)
  • The Knight of Malta (1619, printed 1647)

Work edition

  • William Peery (Ed.): The plays of Nathan Field edited from the original quartos . University of Texas Press, Austin 1950.

literature

  • Roberta Florence Brinkley: Nathan Field: The Actor-Playright , Yale University Press, New Haven 1928 (reprinted by Archon Books, Hamden, Conn. 1973 and Yale Studies in English , v. 77, Ann Arbor, Mich., University Microfilms International, 1981 ).
  • Roberta Florence Brinkley: Nathan and Nathaniel Field . In: Modern Language Notes , vol. 42, no. 1, 1927, pp. 10–15 (with access authorization online at JSTOR ( JSTOR 2914462 ; doi: 10.2307 / 2914462 ))
  • John Joseph Knight:  Field, Nathaniel . In: Leslie Stephen (Ed.): Dictionary of National Biography . Volume 18:  Esdaile - Finan. MacMillan & Co, Smith, Elder & Co., New York City / London, 1889, pp 408 - 410 (English).
  • Field, Nathan . In: Encyclopædia Britannica . 11th edition. tape 10 : Evangelical Church - Francis Joseph I . London 1910, p. 322 (English, full text [ Wikisource ]).
  • John William Cousin: Field, Nathaniel . In: A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature . 1910.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ See Nathan Field (English Actor). In: Encyclopædia Britannica . Retrieved December 27, 2018 . See also Michael Dobson and Stanley Wells : The Oxford Companion to Shakespeare. OUP 2001, 2nd rev. Edition 2015, ISBN 978-0-19-870873-5 , p. 119, and John Joseph Knight:  Field, Nathaniel . In: Leslie Stephen (Ed.): Dictionary of National Biography . Volume 18:  Esdaile - Finan. MacMillan & Co, Smith, Elder & Co., New York City / London, 1889, pp 408 - 410 (English). Most of Nathaniel Field's death is dated to 1620. Deviating from this, however, John Joseph Knight in his entry in the Dictionary of National Biography gives the year 1633 as the year Fields death. See also R. Florence Brinkley: Nathan and Nathaniel Field . In: Modern Language Notes , vol. 42, no. 1, 1927, pp. 10–15, here in particular pp. 10ff, online with access authorization on JSTOR at jstor.org .
  2. ↑ Flecknoe Natan Field, in the same breath as Burbage expressis verbis, is one of the two outstanding (“docile and excellent”) actors of the Elizabethan-Jacobean theater who made its success possible: It was the happiness of the Actors of those Times to have such Poets as these to instruct them, and write for them; and no less of those Poets to have such docile and excellent Actors to Act their Playes, as a Field and Burbidge (...) . See Richard Flecknoe: Love's kingdom a pastoral trage-comedy: not as it was acted at the theater near Lincolnns-Inn, but as it was written, and since corrected - Add to bookbag: A SHORT DISCOURSE OF THE English Stage. (1678?), Online at quod.lib.umich.edu . Retrieved December 27, 2018. See also John Joseph Knight:  Field, Nathaniel . In: Leslie Stephen (Ed.): Dictionary of National Biography . Volume 18:  Esdaile - Finan. MacMillan & Co, Smith, Elder & Co., New York City / London, 1889, pp 408 - 410 (English). See also Field, Nathan . In: Encyclopædia Britannica . 11th edition. tape 10 : Evangelical Church - Francis Joseph I . London 1910, p. 322 (English, full text [ Wikisource ]). See also Michael Dobson and Stanley Wells : The Oxford Companion to Shakespeare. OUP 2001, 2nd rev. Edition 2015, ISBN 978-0-19-870873-5 , p. 119.
  3. ↑ See Field, Nathan . In: Encyclopædia Britannica . 11th edition. tape 10 : Evangelical Church - Francis Joseph I . London 1910, p. 322 (English, full text [ Wikisource ]). See also Michael Dobson , Stanley Wells : The Oxford Companion to Shakespeare. OUP 2001, 2nd rev. Edition 2015, ISBN 978-0-19-870873-5 , p. 119.
  4. ↑ See Michael Dobson and Stanley Wells : The Oxford Companion to Shakespeare. OUP 2001, 2nd rev. 2015 edition, ISBN 978-0-19-870873-5 , p. 119. See also John Joseph Knight:  Field, Nathaniel . In: Leslie Stephen (Ed.): Dictionary of National Biography . Volume 18:  Esdaile - Finan. MacMillan & Co, Smith, Elder & Co., New York City / London, 1889, pp 408 - 410 (English).
  5. ↑ See John Joseph Knight:  Field, Nathaniel . In: Leslie Stephen (Ed.): Dictionary of National Biography . Volume 18:  Esdaile - Finan. MacMillan & Co, Smith, Elder & Co., New York City / London, 1889, pp 408 - 410 (English). And the information from Field, Nathan . In: Encyclopædia Britannica . 11th edition. tape 10 : Evangelical Church - Francis Joseph I . London 1910, p. 322 (English, full text [ Wikisource ]). In these two sources, for example, Fields is mentioned as the time of death 1623/23. In contrast, the current edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica dates the year of Field's death to 1619. Cf. Nathan Field (English Actor). In: Encyclopædia Britannica . Retrieved December 27, 2018 . See also Michael Dobson and Stanley Wells : The Oxford Companion to Shakespeare. OUP 2001, 2nd rev. Edition 2015, ISBN 978-0-19-870873-5 , p. 119. On the question of the reliability and informative value of the entries mentioned, see also R. Florence Brinkley: Nathan and Nathaniel Field in more detail . In: Modern Language Notes , vol. 42, no. 1, 1927, pp. 10–15, here in particular p. 12f, online with access authorization on JSTOR at jstor.org .
personal data
SURNAME Field, Nathan
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Feild, Nathan; Feild, Nathaniel
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English playwright and actor
DATE OF BIRTH 1587
PLACE OF BIRTH St. Giles in Cripplegate , London , England
DATE OF DEATH uncertain: 1619 or 1620 or 1633