262:(c. 1583), one of the earliest of this type of play, has twenty speaking parts in the first 500 lines; and the plays that were to follow, including Shakespeare's histories, are constructed on a similar scale. These were, in effect, the "Hollywood spectaculars" of their era, and represent a leap to a new level of complexity and professionalism; before the establishment of the Queen's Men, such plays would have been unactable. When the Queen's Men were finally supplanted at Court in the winter of 1591–92, it required an assemblage of personnel from both the
189:
51:
218:
Comedians and stage-players of former times were very poor and ignorant...but being now grown very skillful and exquisite actors for all matters, they were entertained into the service of diverse great lords: out of which there were twelve of the best chosen, and...were sworn the Queen's servants and
126:
Their genesis made Queen
Elizabeth's Men unique among the acting companies of the age: "The Queen's Men were a deliberately political company in origin, and their repertory appears to have followed the path no doubt pointed out for them by Sir Francis Walsingham." In the plays they acted, "one finds
117:
were using their companies of players to compete for attention and prestige at each year's
Christmas festivities at Court; Elizabeth and her councillors apparently judged the competition, and the noblemen's egos, to be getting out of hand. By culling the best players in their troupes to form her own,
255:
are "four men and a boy....") The size of the new company enabled it to act a new kind of play, built on a larger scale than ever before. In particular, the development of the history play, which was such a distinctive feature of the later 1580s and the 1590s, would not have been possible without a
300:
in the leads. The character of the troupe also changed around this time; they were joined by John Symons and other acrobats from Lord
Strange's Men. And with this different emphasis and orientation, they appear to have lost the high regard they previously enjoyed. They played only once at Court in
85:
The task of convening the new troupe apparently needed
Walsingham's strong arm, since it was assembled by raiding the best performers from the companies existing at the time. But it also signaled a new awareness on behalf of the Queen and the privy council of the potential for combining theatrical
201:
The creation of the company took advantage of the growing versatility and professionalism of the community of actors in this era. Elizabeth's Court had had a troupe of interlude players in previous years and decades; but they were judged unsatisfactory, and the Court depended on the companies of
305:
and the companies of actors struggled to survive, hit the Queen's company hard. When the actors re-organized themselves in 1594, primarily in the re-formed Lord
Chamberlain's and Admiral's companies, Queen Elizabeth's Men were passé. John Singer completed his stage career with a decade with the
291:
William Knell was killed in 1587 in a sword fight when he got into an argument with another actor of the troupe, one John Towne. Richard
Tarlton died in 1588, at a time when Queen Elizabeth's Men were facing new competition from the Admiral's Men, who were playing the plays of
78:, who had been the court official in charge of the Lord Chamberlain's Men in its first Elizabethan incorporation, was nearing death. The Queen's Men assumed the same functional role in the Elizabethan theatrical landscape as the Lord Chamberlain's Men before and
309:(A nucleus of the company may have continued on for some years, under other names and with other patrons. Two of the Queen's Men, John Garland and Francis Henslowe, were later with Lennox's Men, under the patronage of
86:
and espionage activities, since players frequently traveled, both nationally and internationally, and could serve the crown in multiple ways, including the collection of information useful to
Walsingham's spy network.
167:
in the western wall. The former was a large open-air venue, but the latter may have been enclosed. With this arrangement, Queen
Elizabeth's Men may have anticipated the dual summer and winter playing sites that the
301:
the 1591 Christmas season, while a combination of
Admiral's and Lord Strange's Men performed six times in the same period. The disruption of the 1592–93 period, when the London theatres were closed due to
472:
boasts that "hir maiesties men" were among those pleased to "returne the cuffe, instead of the glove, and hiss the fooles from off the stage." London: Printed by Thomas Orwin, 1589. S108299, D3.
140:
and others – did not occur with the Queen's Men. They may, however, have run afoul of higher authorities in 1589, shortly before their dissolution, for involving themselves too vigorously in the
242:
company of actors in
English Renaissance theatre, twice the size of its predecessors. (Sussex's Men had six members in the 1570s. When Elsinore Castle receives a troupe of touring players in
470:
Martin’s Months minde, That is, A Certaine report, and true description of the Death and Funeralls of Old Martin Marre-prelate, the great makebate of England, and father of the Factious,
321:
Because of the publication of some of their plays in the early 1590s, the repertory of Queen Elizabeth's Men is known to a limited degree. The following plays were acted by the company:
106:
and the "inimitable" John Bentley. Tarlton quickly became the star of the Queen's Men – "for a wondrous plentiful pleasant extemporal wit, he was the wonder of his time."
58:
Since the Queen instigated the formation of the company, its inauguration is well documented by Elizabethan standards. The order came down on 10 March 1583 (
127:
no conflict or disturbance that is not settled in the interests of Tudor conservatism." The political controversies that marked later companies and plays –
82:
them did: it was the company most directly responsible for providing entertainment at court (although other companies also performed before the Queen).
223:
The company entertained at Court primarily in the winter, and during the summer they toured the towns of the shires; they may have reached as far as
597:
227:
in 1589. In London they were initially allowed to perform only at the Bull and Bell Inns – though in later years they may have acted at
90:, till then the leading company of the day, lost three to the new assemblage (Robert Wilson, John Laneham, and William Johnson), while
74:, head of intelligence operations for the Elizabethan court, was the official assigned to assemble the personnel. At that time the
602:
358:
110:
75:
114:
387:
310:
238:
The number of twelve founding members is more revealing than it seems at first: Queen Elizabeth's Men was the first
394:
326:
275:
258:
193:
169:
59:
607:
380:
338:
333:
273:
An extreme instance of the above phenomenon may be found in the example of the Queen's Men's production of
109:
It has been proposed that Elizabeth had a specific political motive behind the formation of the company.
27:
509:
283:, unusually, also had to double roles, for the Queen's Men to fill the 68 separate roles in the play.
545:
79:
39:
306:
Admiral's Men; the others toured the provinces and sold off their play books to London stationers.
129:
251:
31:
267:
103:
67:
8:
293:
177:
160:
87:
71:
147:
The Queen's company was officially authorized to play at two locations in London, the
279:. By one reconstruction, four actors were required to play seven roles each, and the
141:
135:
554:
263:
156:
148:
35:
508:
For more on the relative sizes of acting companies in this era, see the entry on
188:
99:
95:
91:
23:
564:
302:
591:
297:
228:
173:
63:
373:
363:
152:
232:
164:
197:(c. 1583), one of the most successful plays performed by the Queen's Men
280:
203:
34:, it was the dominant acting company for the rest of the 1580s, as the
249:
Act II, scene ii, their number is only "four or five." The players in
118:
she slapped down ambitious aristocrats and asserted her own priority.
351:
207:
94:
lost both of its leading men, the brothers John and Laurence Dutton;
224:
54:
Richard Tarleton, the company's principal comic actor and main star
50:
244:
102:. Other prominent members of the new company were John Singer,
561:
Third edition, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1992.
575:
The Elizabethan Theatre and "The Book of Sir Thomas More."
313:; that company toured the countryside from 1604 to 1608.)
219:
were allowed wages and liveries as Grooms of the Chamber."
468:
The author of one anonymous tract of the controversy,
490:Chambers, Vol. 2, p. 104; Halliday (1964), p. 398.
98:were pillaged of leader John Adams and star clown
144:episode by parodying Martin on the public stage.
589:
172:achieved only a quarter-century later with the
584:. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1998.
577:Ithaca, N.Y., Cornell University Press, 1987.
30:. Formed in 1583 at the express command of
256:large company to handle the performances.
580:McMillin, Scott, and Sally-Beth MacLean.
551:4 Volumes, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1923.
206:for better-quality entertainment. But as
432:McMillin; MacLean (1998), pp. 5, 11–12.
187:
49:
16:Troupe of actors in Renaissance England
598:English early modern theatre companies
590:
359:A Looking Glass for London and England
42:would be in the decade that followed.
111:Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester
115:Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford
13:
568:A Shakespeare Companion 1564–1964.
559:The Shakespearean Stage 1574–1642.
388:The Troublesome Reign of King John
311:Ludovic Stuart, 2nd Duke of Lennox
14:
619:
523:McMillin; MacLean (1998), p. 105.
582:The Queen's Men and Their Plays
526:
517:
502:
493:
395:The True Tragedy of Richard III
327:The Famous Victories of Henry V
276:The True Tragedy of Richard III
259:The Famous Victories of Henry V
194:The Famous Victories of Henry V
603:1583 establishments in England
484:
475:
462:
453:
444:
435:
426:
417:
408:
1:
539:
423:McMillin; MacLean (1998) p.27
414:Chambers, Vol. 2, pp. 104 ff.
45:
381:Sir Clyomon and Sir Clamydes
334:Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay
210:wrote of this period in his
183:
7:
499:McMillin (1987), pp. 55–60.
28:English Renaissance theatre
10:
624:
286:
570:Baltimore, Penguin, 1964.
441:Chambers, Vol. 2, p. 105.
121:
532:Halliday (1964), p. 277.
401:
316:
459:McMillin (1987), p. 59.
163:, within the City near
26:or troupe of actors in
549:The Elizabethan Stage.
221:
198:
55:
40:Lord Chamberlain's Men
270:to fill their place.
216:
191:
53:
20:Queen Elizabeth's Men
178:Blackfriars Theatres
68:Master of the Revels
608:William Shakespeare
370:The Old Wives' Tale
362:(Robert Greene and
294:Christopher Marlowe
268:Lord Strange's Men
199:
161:Gracechurch Street
72:Francis Walsingham
56:
573:McMillin, Scott.
481:Gurr, pp. 119–20.
450:Gurr, pp. 28, 32.
142:Martin Marprelate
136:The Isle of Gulls
615:
533:
530:
524:
521:
515:
506:
500:
497:
491:
488:
482:
479:
473:
466:
460:
457:
451:
448:
442:
439:
433:
430:
424:
421:
415:
412:
130:The Isle of Dogs
623:
622:
618:
617:
616:
614:
613:
612:
588:
587:
565:Halliday, F. E.
546:Chambers, E. K.
542:
537:
536:
531:
527:
522:
518:
511:Sir Thomas More
507:
503:
498:
494:
489:
485:
480:
476:
467:
463:
458:
454:
449:
445:
440:
436:
431:
427:
422:
418:
413:
409:
404:
347:(Robert Greene)
319:
289:
252:Sir Thomas More
186:
124:
100:Richard Tarlton
92:Oxford's troupe
88:Leicester's Men
48:
32:Queen Elizabeth
24:playing company
17:
12:
11:
5:
621:
611:
610:
605:
600:
586:
585:
578:
571:
562:
552:
541:
538:
535:
534:
525:
516:
501:
492:
483:
474:
461:
452:
443:
434:
425:
416:
406:
405:
403:
400:
399:
398:
391:
384:
377:
367:
355:
348:
342:
330:
318:
315:
303:bubonic plague
288:
285:
185:
182:
149:Bel Savage Inn
123:
120:
76:Earl of Sussex
47:
44:
15:
9:
6:
4:
3:
2:
620:
609:
606:
604:
601:
599:
596:
595:
593:
583:
579:
576:
572:
569:
566:
563:
560:
556:
553:
550:
547:
544:
543:
529:
520:
513:
512:
505:
496:
487:
478:
471:
465:
456:
447:
438:
429:
420:
411:
407:
397:
396:
392:
390:
389:
385:
383:
382:
378:
375:
371:
368:
365:
361:
360:
356:
354:
353:
349:
346:
343:
340:
339:Robert Greene
336:
335:
331:
329:
328:
324:
323:
322:
314:
312:
307:
304:
299:
298:Edward Alleyn
295:
284:
282:
278:
277:
271:
269:
265:
264:Admiral's Men
261:
260:
254:
253:
248:
246:
241:
236:
234:
230:
229:James Burbage
226:
220:
215:
213:
209:
205:
196:
195:
190:
181:
179:
175:
171:
166:
162:
158:
154:
150:
145:
143:
139:
137:
133:
131:
119:
116:
112:
107:
105:
104:William Knell
101:
97:
93:
89:
83:
81:
77:
73:
70:; though Sir
69:
65:
64:Edmund Tilney
61:
52:
43:
41:
37:
36:Admiral's Men
33:
29:
25:
21:
581:
574:
567:
558:
555:Gurr, Andrew
548:
528:
519:
510:
504:
495:
486:
477:
469:
464:
455:
446:
437:
428:
419:
410:
393:
386:
379:
374:George Peele
369:
364:Thomas Lodge
357:
350:
344:
332:
325:
320:
308:
290:
274:
272:
257:
250:
243:
239:
237:
222:
217:
211:
204:child actors
200:
192:
153:Ludgate Hill
146:
134:
128:
125:
108:
96:Sussex's Men
84:
57:
19:
18:
165:Bishopsgate
66:, then the
592:Categories
540:References
281:boy actors
170:King's Men
155:, and the
46:Foundation
352:King Leir
235:as well.
208:John Stow
184:Dominance
60:new style
345:James IV
225:Scotland
214:(1615):
157:Bell Inn
38:and the
287:Decline
233:Theatre
245:Hamlet
212:Annals
122:Status
22:was a
402:Notes
317:Plays
296:with
240:large
174:Globe
80:after
62:) to
266:and
176:and
113:and
231:'s
159:in
151:on
594::
557:.
180:.
514:.
376:)
372:(
366:)
341:)
337:(
247:,
138:,
132:,
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
