Thomas Killigrew
Thomas Killigrew (born February 7, 1612 in London , † March 19, 1683 ) was an English playwright and theater manager.
biography
The younger brother of the playwright Sir William Killigrew was initially a page in the court of King Charles I and was later a companion of King Charles II in his exile in Spain , Italy and the Netherlands as well as his chamberlain . During his exile in the Netherlands, he lived in The Hague and Maastricht between 1655 and 1660 and married a Dutch woman, thereby acquiring Dutch nationality . This period of exile is referred to by biographers as the "lost years" of Killigrews.
Killigrew was a great supporter of the revival of English theaters after the Stuart Restoration and the reopening of theaters in 1660. He was also among the first to introduce actresses to the theater in January 1661 , according to the diaries of Samuel Pepy's , and received a royal Patent for opening a theater on Vere Street, a former tennis court .
In 1663 he opened the Theater Royal on Bridges Street, where Nell Gwyn sold oranges to the public before becoming an actress herself in 1665 and later a mistress of King Charles II. After this theater was destroyed by fire in 1672, he had a second theater built on the site, which opened as Theater Royal Drury Lane in 1674 and where the so-called King's Company played.
In 1664 he published a collection of nine stage works , which he claims to have been made in nine different cities. The best known of these was “The Parson's Wedding”, which was probably derived from “ La dama duende ” by Pedro Calderón de la Barca from 1629 and probably written in 1640. In his diary , Pepys stated that it was "a shameless, loose piece".
Killigrew was also one of the founders of the first drama school , which emerged in the old London district of Barbican.
After his death, his son Charles Killigrew took over the management of the business.
literature
- Una McGovern (Ed.): Chambers Biographical Dictionary . 7th edition, Chambers House, Edinburgh 2002, ISBN 0-550-10051-2 , p. 691.
- Alfred Harbage : Killigrew: Cavalier Dramatist . 1930, new edition 1964, ISBN 0-405-08597-4 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ JP van der Motten: Thomas Killigrew's "Lost Years", 1655-1660 . In: Neophilologus , Vol. 82 (1998), Issue 2, pp. 311-334.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Killigrew, Thomas |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | English playwright and theater director |
| DATE OF BIRTH | February 7, 1612 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | London |
| DATE OF DEATH | March 19, 1683 |