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Walter Clun
Walter Clun (died 2 August 1664) was a noted English actor of the 17th century. His career spanned the difficult period when the theatres were closed during the English Civil War and the Interregnum, from 1642 to 1660. According to James Wright's ''Historia Histrionica'' (1699), Clun and Charles Hart were boy players together with the King's Men in the years prior to the theatre closure. Clun was a member of a group of English actors who performed on the Continent, mainly in The Hague and Paris, between 1644 and 1646; he was also one of the former King's Men who tried to restart the company in December 1648, despite the parliamentarian regime's hostility to theatre. (The effort was not successful.) In the Restoration era, Clun gained particular notice as the Iago to Nicholas Burt's Othello in the earliest Restoration production of Shakespeare's play in 1660. Clun was among the thirteen actors who were initial sharers in the newly organized King's Company in 1661. In addition ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
London Theatre Closure 1642
On September 2, 1642, just after the First English Civil War had begun, the Long Parliament ordered the closure of all London theatres. The order cited the current "times of humiliation" and their incompatibility with "public stage-plays", representative of "lascivious Mirth and Levity". The closure was the culmination of the rising anti-theatrical sentiment among Puritans, and along with William Prynne's ''Histriomastix'' (1633), its text was the most notorious attack on theatre in English history. The ban, which was not completely effective, was reinforced by an Act of 11 February 1648, at the beginning of the Second Civil War. It provided for the treatment of actors as rogues, the demolition of theatre seating, and fines for spectators. On 24 January 1643, the actors pleaded with Parliament to reopen the theatres by writing a pamphlet called '''The Actors remonstrance or complaint for the silencing of their profession, and banishment from their severall play-houses, in whi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Merry Devil Of Edmonton
''The Merry Devil of Edmonton'' is an Elizabethan-era stage play; a comedy about a magician, Peter Fabell, nicknamed the Merry Devil. It was at one point attributed to William Shakespeare, but is now considered part of the Shakespeare Apocrypha. Date and text Scholars have conjectured dates of authorship for the play as early as 1592, though most favor a date in the 1600–4 period. ''The Merry Devil'' enters the historical record in 1604, when it is mentioned in a contemporary work called the ''Black Booke''. The play was entered into the Stationers' Register on 22 October 1607, and published the next year, in a quarto printed by Henry Ballard for the bookseller Arthur Johnson (Q1 – 1608). Five more quartos appeared through the remainder of the century: Q2 – 1612; Q3 – 1617; Q4 – 1626; Q5 – 1631; and Q6 – 1655. All of these quartos were anonymous. Shakespearean authorship Publisher Humphrey Moseley obtained the rights to the play and re-registered it on 9 September ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brief Lives
''Brief Lives'' is a collection of short biographies written by John Aubrey (1626–1697) in the last decades of the 17th century. Writing Aubrey initially began collecting biographical material to assist the Oxford scholar Anthony Wood, who was working on his own collection of biographies. With time, Aubrey's biographical researches went beyond mere assistance to Wood and became a project in its own right. Aubrey was careful, wherever possible, to seek out and talk with those who had been acquainted with his subjects. His sociable nature and his wide circle of friends helped him in this pursuit. At his death, Aubrey left his biographical writings in a state of chaos. It has been the task of later editors to organise the manuscripts (held at the Bodleian Library) into readable form. Afterlife Aubrey's ''Brief Lives'' has been loved for generations for its colourful gossipy tone and for the glimpses it provides of the unofficial sides of its subjects. Aubrey's use of infor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Aubrey
John Aubrey (12 March 1626 – 7 June 1697) was an English antiquarian, antiquary, Natural philosophy, natural philosopher and writer. He is perhaps best known as the author of the ''Brief Lives'', his collection of short biographical pieces. He was a pioneer Archaeology, archaeologist, who recorded (often for the first time) numerous megalithic and other Ancient monument, field monuments in southern England, and who is particularly noted for his systematic examination of the Avebury henge monument. The Aubrey holes at Stonehenge are named after him, although there is considerable doubt as to whether the holes that he observed are those that currently bear the name. He was also a pioneer Folkloristics, folklorist, collecting together a miscellany of material on customs, traditions and beliefs under the title "Remaines of Gentilisme and Judaisme". He set out to compile English county histories, county histories of both Wiltshire and Surrey, although both projects remained unfini ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Michael Mohun
Michael Mohun (1616? – buried 11 October 1684) was a leading English actor both before and after the 1642–60 closing of the theatres. Mohun began his stage career as a boy player filling female roles; he was part of Christopher Beeston's theatrical establishment at the Cockpit Theatre, "eventually becoming a key member of Queen Henrietta's Men." For the period from 1642 to 1659, Mohun was an officer in military units loyal to the House of Stuart; he served in England, Ireland, and the Low Countries, and rose to the rank of major. He was seriously wounded at Dublin, and was a prisoner of war for two extended periods. At the end of the English Interregnum, Mohun was one of the men — George Jolly and John Rhodes were others — who attempted to restart dramatic performance. In 1659 Mohun performed with other pre-Commonwealth actors in an unlicensed troupe at the Red Bull Theatre. As the manager of the troupe, Mohun came to an agreement with the Master of the Revels ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Samuel Pepys
Samuel Pepys (; 23 February 1633 – 26 May 1703) was an English diarist and naval administrator. He served as administrator of the Royal Navy and Member of Parliament and is most famous for the diary he kept for a decade. Pepys had no maritime experience, but he rose to be the Chief Secretary to the Admiralty under both King Charles II and King James II through patronage, diligence, and his talent for administration. His influence and reforms at the Admiralty were important in the early professionalisation of the Royal Navy. The detailed private diary that Pepys kept from 1660 until 1669 was first published in the 19th century and is one of the most important primary sources for the English Restoration period. It provides a combination of personal revelation and eyewitness accounts of great events, such as the Great Plague of London, the Second Dutch War, and the Great Fire of London. Early life Pepys was born in Salisbury Court, Fleet Street, London, on 23 Feb ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kentish Town
Kentish Town is an area of northwest London, England in the London Borough of Camden, immediately north of Camden Town. Less than four miles north of central London, Kentish Town has good transport connections and is situated close to the open spaces of Hampstead Heath. Toponymy The name of Kentish Town is probably derived from ''Ken-ditch'' or ''Caen-ditch'', meaning the "bed of a waterway" and is otherwise unrelated to the English county of Kent. In researching the meaning of ''Ken-ditch'', it has also been noted that ''ken'' is the Celtic word for both "green" and "river", while ''ditch'' refers to the River Fleet, now a Subterranean rivers of London, subterranean river. However, another theory is the name comes from its position near the Fleet; it has been suggested that Kentish Town, which lies in between two forks of the Fleet, takes its name from ''cant'' or ''cantle'' (from the Middle English meaning "corner"). History Kentish Town was originally a small settlement on ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1663 In Literature
This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1663. Events *February **The Académie des inscriptions et belles-lettres (Academy of the Humanities) is founded in Paris. ** Katherine Philips' translation of Pierre Corneille's '' Pompée'' is produced successfully at the Theatre Royal, Dublin (Smock Alley Theatre) in Ireland, as the first rhymed version of a French tragedy in English and the first English play written by a woman to be performed on a professional stage. It is published in Dublin and London later in the year. *February 24 – John Milton marries his third wife, Elizabeth Minshull, 31 years his junior, at St Mary Aldermary in the City of London. * May 7 – The King's Company inaugurates its new theatre, the first Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, London, with a revival of Fletcher's '' The Humorous Lieutenant''. The play succeeds and runs for twelve nights in a row, unusual under the repertory system of the time. *August – '' The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Drury Lane
Drury Lane is a street on the eastern boundary of the Covent Garden area of London, running between Aldwych and High Holborn. The northern part is in the borough of Camden and the southern part in the City of Westminster. Notable landmarks The street originated as an early medieval lane referred to in Latin as the ''Via de Aldwych'', which probably connected St. Giles Leper Hospital with the fields of Aldwych Close, owned by the hospital but traditionally said to have been granted to the Danes as part of a peace treaty with King Alfred the Great in Saxon times. It acquired its name from the Suffolk barrister Sir Robert Drury, who built a mansion called Drury House on the lane around 1500. After the death in 1615 of his great-great-grandson, another Robert Drury, the property passed out of the family. It became the London house of the Earl of Craven, then a public house under the sign of his reputed mistress, the Queen of Bohemia. Subsequently, the gardens and courtyards ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Theatre Royal, Drury Lane
The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, commonly known as Drury Lane, is a West End theatre and Grade I listed building in Covent Garden, London, England. The building faces Catherine Street (earlier named Bridges or Brydges Street) and backs onto Drury Lane. The building is the most recent in a line of four theatres which were built at the same location, the earliest of which dated back to 1663, making it the oldest theatre site in London still in use. According to the author Peter Thomson, for its first two centuries, Drury Lane could "reasonably have claimed to be London's leading theatre". For most of that time, it was one of a handful of patent theatres, granted monopoly rights to the production of "legitimate" drama in London (meaning spoken plays, rather than opera, dance, concerts, or plays with music). The first theatre on the site was built at the behest of Thomas Killigrew in the early 1660s, when theatres were allowed to reopen during the English Restoration. Initial ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Humorous Lieutenant
''The Humorous Lieutenant'', also known as ''The Noble Enemies'', ''Demetrius and Enanthe'', or ''Alexander's Successors'', is a Jacobean era stage play, a tragicomedy written by John Fletcher. Highly praised by critics, it has been called "Fletcher's best comedy." The drama was initially published in the first Beaumont and Fletcher folio of 1647. Date and performance The second Beaumont/Fletcher folio of 1679 provides a cast list for the original King's Men's production, which includes Henry Condell, Joseph Taylor, John Lowin, William Ecclestone, Richard Sharpe, John Underwood, Robert Benfield—and Thomas Pollard, the comic actor who filled the title role. This is the only cast list that includes both Taylor and Condell; Taylor joined the company in the spring of 1619, to replace Richard Burbage after his death in March of that year; and Condell is thought to have retired not long after—which appears to date the play fairly securely to 1619. Manuscript In addition to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rule A Wife And Have A Wife
''Rule a Wife and Have a Wife'' is a late Jacobean stage comedy written by John Fletcher. It was first performed in 1624 and first published in 1640. It is a comedy with intrigue that tells the story of two couples that get married with false pretenses. The play was licensed for performance by Sir Henry Herbert, the Master of the Revels, on 19 October 1624. It was performed by the King's Men, who performed it at Court twice in that season. The 1640 quarto was printed at Oxford by Leonard Lichfield, the printer to the University of Oxford. It was later reprinted in the second Beaumont and Fletcher folio of 1679. It was revived in the Restoration era in an adaptation, like many of Fletcher's plays; the revised version was printed in 1697 and repeatedly thereafter, and proved to be among the dramatist's most popular works. External evidence, including Herbert's entry in his records and the 1640 quarto, assigns the play to Fletcher alone. The play's internal evidence of sty ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
