SHAKSPER 2006: Actors Connected with Shakespeare
From: Hardy M. Cook (editor@shaksper.net)
Date: 10/02/06
- Previous message: Hardy M. Cook: "The Shakespeare Wars"
- Messages sorted by: [ date ] [ thread ] [ subject ]
The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 17.0868 Monday, 2 October 2006
[1] From: J H Forse <jforse@bgnet.bgsu.edu>
Date: Friday, 29 Sep 2006 11:16:54 -0400
Subj: Re: SHK 17.0860 Actors Connected with Shakespeare
[2] From: Bill Lloyd <Bnklloyd@aol.com>
Date: Friday, 29 Sep 2006 13:34:47 EDT
Subj: Re: SHK 17.0851 Actors Connected with Shakespeare
[3] From: Anne Cuneo <anne.cuneo@gmail.com>
Date: Saturday, 30 Sep 2006 10:06:08 +0200
Subj: Re: SHK 17.0860 Actors Connected with Shakespeare
[1]-----------------------------------------------------------------
From: J H Forse <jforse@bgnet.bgsu.edu>
Date: Friday, 29 Sep 2006 11:16:54 -0400
Subject: 17.0860 Actors Connected with Shakespeare
Comment: Re: SHK 17.0860 Actors Connected with Shakespeare
Though old, Nungezer's A Dictionary of Actors: and of Other Persons
Associated with the Public Representation of Plays in England before
1642 might be of some use.
J H Forse
[2]-------------------------------------------------------------
From: Bill Lloyd <Bnklloyd@aol.com>
Date: Friday, 29 Sep 2006 13:34:47 EDT
Subject: 17.0851 Actors Connected with Shakespeare
Comment: Re: SHK 17.0851 Actors Connected with Shakespeare
Roy Flannagan asks:
>May I ask what the best sources are, in books and on-line, for
>authoritative information about actors connected with Shakespeare for
>whom he might have written specific parts? Boy-actors as well as men,
>comic as well as tragic.
-- Edwin Nungezer, * A Dictionary of Actors*
This incorporates the information found in Chambers, *Elizabethan Stage*
with much else, and is excellent as far as it goes; but it was published
in 1929 and a lot has been learned since then.
-- G. E. Bentley, *The Jacobean and Caroline Stage*, especially Vol
I 'Dramatic Companies' and Vol II 'Players'. Although Bentley aims to
cover the period after the death of Shakespeare, many of Shakespeare's
fellows (e.g. Heminge, Lowin) and their immediate successors are
covered. This was published in 1941 so, as with Nungezer, in spite of
its excellence it is not up to date.
-- T.W. Baldwin, *The Organization and Personnel of the
Shakspearean Company*
-- David Grote, *The Best Actors in the World*
-- Andrew Gurr, *The Shakespeare Company 1594-1642*
These books all attempt to give a thorough picture specifically of
Shakespeare's company, but should be used with care. The erudite
Baldwin's claims outrun his evidence and his theory of 'lines' has been
much criticized; nonetheless a valuable book, caveat emptor. The amateur
Grote's book is more recent and vaguely similar: some interesting ideas,
but rife with unsupported assertions and eccentric theories. Gurr's book
more approaches a 'standard work' and contains much that is valuable but
he is careless with details, and information gleaned there from should
be double-checked.
-- David Kathman's on-line *Biographical Index of English Drama
Before 1660*
http://shakespeareauthorship.com/bd/
This is the most reliable guide to such information. It does not offer
actual biographies of Shakespeare's fellows, but is a thorough
bibliography of books and articles pertaining to them and is pretty
up-to-date. This is where you'll find most of what has been learned
since Nungezer and Bentley. Also, three of Dave's recent articles
contain much that is new and illuminating about Shakespeare's fellows:
-- 'Reconsidering the Seven Deadly Sins' in *Early Theatre* 7.1 (2004)
-- 'Grocers, Goldsmiths & Drapers: Freemen & Apprentices in the
Elizabethan Theatre' in *Shakespeare Quarterly* 55.1 (Spring 2004)
-- ''How Old Were Shakespeare's Boy Actors?' in *Shakespeare
Survey* 58 (2005)
Unfortunately, definite evidence of which parts Shakespeare intended for
which actors is pretty sparse:
Richard Burbage: Richard III, Hamlet, Othello, Lear
Will Kempe: Peter in R&J, Dogberry
Richard Cowley: Verges
Beyond that is a world of speculation.
Did Burbage act Macbeth (etc) and Kempe Bottom (etc)?
Very probably, but prove it.
Lowin became famous for acting Falstaff, but was still an apprentice
goldsmith when Shakespeare wrote the part for someone else. Kempe? Pope?
Heminge? Arguments have been made but there is no certainty.
Touchstone: Kempe or Armin? arguments have been made, etc. Did Armin
play all the obvious fool roles after 1600? All's Well: LaVatch or
Parolles? Lear: Fool or Edgar? etc
John Heminge was sometimes referred to as 'old Heminge' and so is
usually assigned, for instance, Caesar and Polonius. But he was only 34
in 1600. Why not George Bryan or Augustine Philips?
The small/thin hired man John Sincler can be connected with several
small parts, but can we really say Shakespeare wrote them *for* him?
...you see the problem.
Some idea of the [ahem] 'lines' Shakespeare's fellows took can perhaps
be gotten from roles we know they acted in plays by Webster, Jonson,
Fletcher and a few others. For instance I think Henry Condell was the
first actor of Iago because he is known to have acted the wily,
murderous Cardinal in the Duchess of Malfi, watching dispassionately as
his brother the Duke (Burbage) raves in madness; and also the hovering,
duplicitous Mosca to Burbage's Volpone; and the surly soldier Surly in
The Alchemist. But it's at best an educated guess.
So information there is, but 'authoritative'... be careful.
Bill Lloyd
[Editor's Note: I heartedly second Bill's suggestion of consulting David
Kathman's on-line *Biographical Index of English Drama Before 1660.* -HMC]
[3]-------------------------------------------------------------
From: Anne Cuneo <anne.cuneo@gmail.com>
Date: Saturday, 30 Sep 2006 10:06:08 +0200
Subject: 17.0860 Actors Connected with Shakespeare
Comment: Re: SHK 17.0860 Actors Connected with Shakespeare
I strongly recommend:
T.W. Baldwin The Organization and Personnel of the Shakespearean
Company, 1927
T.W.Baldwin has done a thorough job, and tries to answer precisely the
questions asked by Roy Flannagan. I have used his research extensively.
Unfortunately, I cannot remember which library I borrowed the book from,
and have just as foolishly not registered where it was published, only
when the book has been reprinted, or republished, in New York, in 1961,
there is a copy in the Swiss Central Library, so I suppose there are
copies in many American ones.
Anne Cuneo
_______________________________________________________________
S H A K S P E R: The Global Shakespeare Discussion List
Hardy M. Cook, editor@shaksper.net
The S H A K S P E R Web Site <http://www.shaksper.net>
DISCLAIMER: Although SHAKSPER is a moderated discussion list, the
opinions expressed on it are the sole property of the poster, and the
editor assumes no responsibility for them.
- Previous message: Hardy M. Cook: "The Shakespeare Wars"
- Messages sorted by: [ date ] [ thread ] [ subject ]
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |