William Smith, “The Freeman’s Honour,” and the Lord Chamberlain’s Men
W. Smith’s play “The Freeman’s Honour” is known only from being mentioned in the dedication to an... more W. Smith’s play “The Freeman’s Honour” is known only from being mentioned in the dedication to another of Smith’s plays, The Hector of Germany, printed in 1615. The dedication implies that “The Freeman’s Honour” was performed by the Lord Chamberlain’s Men, making it one of the few lost plays attributable to that company, but the identity of the author has long been a matter of dispute. For most of the twentieth century, theater historians identified “W. Smith” with Henslowe playwright Wentworth Smith, simply because he was the only known playwright with the right initial and surname in that period. However, a considerable body of circumstantial evidence indicates that the author was actually William Smith, rouge dragon pursuivant in the College of Heralds, who had lived in Germany for many years and had connections to the Lord Chamberlain’s Men and Sir John Swinnerton, the dedicatee of The Hector of Germany.
UNTIL very recently, the four London inns that served as playhouses in the last quarter of the si... more UNTIL very recently, the four London inns that served as playhouses in the last quarter of the sixteenth century - the Bell Savage on Ludgate Hill, the Bull in Bishopsgate Street, and the Bell and the Cross Keys in Gracechurch Street - have been sadly neglected by theater historians. Despite their importance for Elizabethan theater history, the late Herbert Berry was able to write of these inns as recently as 2000 that "virtually nothing is known for certain about either the ownership of these places or what was done to make them playhouses."1 Happily, the situation is now improving, as much previously unknown information about all four inn-playhouses is emerging from the archives. Herbert Berry's last publication was a thorough history of the Bell Savage, including a discussion of its owners and leaseholders during its years as a playhouse.2 My own archival research into these inns, initially undertaken in close consultation with Herb, has uncovered much valuable info...
“The Madnes of Tenys” and the Commercialization of Pastimes in Early Tudor London
Games and Theatre in Shakespeare's England
Efforts to control professional theatre in London in the 1570s contained echoes of the authoritie... more Efforts to control professional theatre in London in the 1570s contained echoes of the authorities’ previous reactions to the commercialization of tennis and bowling. As early as the 1470s, the London authorities had cracked down on tennis playing in the city, and records of the sale of tennis balls by the Ironmongers’ Company show that this attempt was successful in the short term. Over the next 50 years, those records provide a surprisingly detailed account of the surging popularity of tennis in the city, punctuated by occasional attempts by the authorities to ban it. Records from crackdowns on tennis and bowling in 1516 and 1528 provide information about the people who were trying to make money off these sports.
In his 2007 article 'The Work of Elizabethan Plotters, and 2 The Seven Deadly Sins', Andrew Gurr ... more In his 2007 article 'The Work of Elizabethan Plotters, and 2 The Seven Deadly Sins', Andrew Gurr surveyed the evidence concerning the handful of surviving manuscript 'plots' from the Elizabethan theatre, adding some judicious speculation about the 'plotters' who drew up these documents. 1 Such plots are key pieces of evidence for the casting practices of Elizabethan playing companies, since they include the names of specific players alongside the roles they played. Because very little concrete evidence exists about these plots or their plotters, as Gurr rightly notes, any effort to bring together the meagre known facts into a coherent narrative is most welcome. Aside from the room for disagreement with some elements of Gurr's narrative, as is almost inevitable in speculative cases such as this one, the framework Gurr has constructed is a helpful supplement to the pioneering work of W.W. Greg nearly eighty years ago. 2 The second half of Gurr's article argues a more specific proposition: that the manuscript plot of The Second Part of the Seven Deadly Sins, now Dulwich College MS XIX, was written for a production by Strange's Men around 1591. This assumption was something close to a consensus view until recently, but in a 2004 article, henceforth Kathman (2004), I argued at length that this dating is mistaken, and that the plot actually originated with the Lord Chamberlain's Men around 1597-8. 3 In order to defend the earlier date, Gurr necessarily challenges some of the arguments presented in that article, the tacit hypothesis being that if those arguments are invalid, then the traditional date is correct. In particular, Gurr questions the relevance of one of my key pieces of evidence -an apprentice binding record for Thomas Belte in November 1595, a record which seems to suggest strongly that the plot comes from after that date. On one level, Gurr's critique is welcome, and he has raised some issues meriting further discussion. His challenge to that 2004 article, however, contains unwarranted and questionable assumptions, without which his
Among the Henslowe-Alleyn papers at Dulwich College is a document long prized by theatre historia... more Among the Henslowe-Alleyn papers at Dulwich College is a document long prized by theatre historians: the handwritten 'plot' of a play called The Second Part of the Seven Deadly Sins (Dulwich College MS XIX), apparently designed to be hung on a peg backstage at a playhouse. ...
Henry Condell is well known to theater historians as a longtime acting colleague of William Shake... more Henry Condell is well known to theater historians as a longtime acting colleague of William Shakespeare and coeditor (with John Heminges) of the 1623 First Folio, but nothing certain has been known about his origins or early life. In 1985, David Honneyman identified the actor with a Henry Condell baptized in Norwich on 5 September 1576, but this identification, while
Among the Henslowe-Alleyn papers at Dulwich College is a document long prized by theatre historia... more Among the Henslowe-Alleyn papers at Dulwich College is a document long prized by theatre historians: the handwritten 'plot' of a play called The Second Part of the Seven Deadly Sins (Dulwich College MS XIX), apparently designed to be hung on a peg backstage at a playhouse. The text of this play does not survive, but it is usually thought to be identical with Richard Tarlton's 'famous play of the seauen Deadly sinnes', referred to in 1592 by Gabriel Harvey and Thomas Nashe. 1 The plot is extremely valuable for its scene-by-scene description of the play's action, which lists the characters and (most of) the players who played those characters in each scene. There are twenty players' names in all
William Smith, “The Freeman’s Honour,” and the Lord Chamberlain’s Men
W. Smith’s play “The Freeman’s Honour” is known only from being mentioned in the dedication to an... more W. Smith’s play “The Freeman’s Honour” is known only from being mentioned in the dedication to another of Smith’s plays, The Hector of Germany, printed in 1615. The dedication implies that “The Freeman’s Honour” was performed by the Lord Chamberlain’s Men, making it one of the few lost plays attributable to that company, but the identity of the author has long been a matter of dispute. For most of the twentieth century, theater historians identified “W. Smith” with Henslowe playwright Wentworth Smith, simply because he was the only known playwright with the right initial and surname in that period. However, a considerable body of circumstantial evidence indicates that the author was actually William Smith, rouge dragon pursuivant in the College of Heralds, who had lived in Germany for many years and had connections to the Lord Chamberlain’s Men and Sir John Swinnerton, the dedicatee of The Hector of Germany.
UNTIL very recently, the four London inns that served as playhouses in the last quarter of the si... more UNTIL very recently, the four London inns that served as playhouses in the last quarter of the sixteenth century - the Bell Savage on Ludgate Hill, the Bull in Bishopsgate Street, and the Bell and the Cross Keys in Gracechurch Street - have been sadly neglected by theater historians. Despite their importance for Elizabethan theater history, the late Herbert Berry was able to write of these inns as recently as 2000 that "virtually nothing is known for certain about either the ownership of these places or what was done to make them playhouses."1 Happily, the situation is now improving, as much previously unknown information about all four inn-playhouses is emerging from the archives. Herbert Berry's last publication was a thorough history of the Bell Savage, including a discussion of its owners and leaseholders during its years as a playhouse.2 My own archival research into these inns, initially undertaken in close consultation with Herb, has uncovered much valuable info...
“The Madnes of Tenys” and the Commercialization of Pastimes in Early Tudor London
Games and Theatre in Shakespeare's England
Efforts to control professional theatre in London in the 1570s contained echoes of the authoritie... more Efforts to control professional theatre in London in the 1570s contained echoes of the authorities’ previous reactions to the commercialization of tennis and bowling. As early as the 1470s, the London authorities had cracked down on tennis playing in the city, and records of the sale of tennis balls by the Ironmongers’ Company show that this attempt was successful in the short term. Over the next 50 years, those records provide a surprisingly detailed account of the surging popularity of tennis in the city, punctuated by occasional attempts by the authorities to ban it. Records from crackdowns on tennis and bowling in 1516 and 1528 provide information about the people who were trying to make money off these sports.
In his 2007 article 'The Work of Elizabethan Plotters, and 2 The Seven Deadly Sins', Andrew Gurr ... more In his 2007 article 'The Work of Elizabethan Plotters, and 2 The Seven Deadly Sins', Andrew Gurr surveyed the evidence concerning the handful of surviving manuscript 'plots' from the Elizabethan theatre, adding some judicious speculation about the 'plotters' who drew up these documents. 1 Such plots are key pieces of evidence for the casting practices of Elizabethan playing companies, since they include the names of specific players alongside the roles they played. Because very little concrete evidence exists about these plots or their plotters, as Gurr rightly notes, any effort to bring together the meagre known facts into a coherent narrative is most welcome. Aside from the room for disagreement with some elements of Gurr's narrative, as is almost inevitable in speculative cases such as this one, the framework Gurr has constructed is a helpful supplement to the pioneering work of W.W. Greg nearly eighty years ago. 2 The second half of Gurr's article argues a more specific proposition: that the manuscript plot of The Second Part of the Seven Deadly Sins, now Dulwich College MS XIX, was written for a production by Strange's Men around 1591. This assumption was something close to a consensus view until recently, but in a 2004 article, henceforth Kathman (2004), I argued at length that this dating is mistaken, and that the plot actually originated with the Lord Chamberlain's Men around 1597-8. 3 In order to defend the earlier date, Gurr necessarily challenges some of the arguments presented in that article, the tacit hypothesis being that if those arguments are invalid, then the traditional date is correct. In particular, Gurr questions the relevance of one of my key pieces of evidence -an apprentice binding record for Thomas Belte in November 1595, a record which seems to suggest strongly that the plot comes from after that date. On one level, Gurr's critique is welcome, and he has raised some issues meriting further discussion. His challenge to that 2004 article, however, contains unwarranted and questionable assumptions, without which his
Among the Henslowe-Alleyn papers at Dulwich College is a document long prized by theatre historia... more Among the Henslowe-Alleyn papers at Dulwich College is a document long prized by theatre historians: the handwritten 'plot' of a play called The Second Part of the Seven Deadly Sins (Dulwich College MS XIX), apparently designed to be hung on a peg backstage at a playhouse. ...
Henry Condell is well known to theater historians as a longtime acting colleague of William Shake... more Henry Condell is well known to theater historians as a longtime acting colleague of William Shakespeare and coeditor (with John Heminges) of the 1623 First Folio, but nothing certain has been known about his origins or early life. In 1985, David Honneyman identified the actor with a Henry Condell baptized in Norwich on 5 September 1576, but this identification, while
Among the Henslowe-Alleyn papers at Dulwich College is a document long prized by theatre historia... more Among the Henslowe-Alleyn papers at Dulwich College is a document long prized by theatre historians: the handwritten 'plot' of a play called The Second Part of the Seven Deadly Sins (Dulwich College MS XIX), apparently designed to be hung on a peg backstage at a playhouse. The text of this play does not survive, but it is usually thought to be identical with Richard Tarlton's 'famous play of the seauen Deadly sinnes', referred to in 1592 by Gabriel Harvey and Thomas Nashe. 1 The plot is extremely valuable for its scene-by-scene description of the play's action, which lists the characters and (most of) the players who played those characters in each scene. There are twenty players' names in all
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