Andrew Cane (

fl. ''Floruit'' ( ; usually abbreviated fl. or occasionally flor.; from Latin for 'flourished') denotes a date or period during which a person was known to have been alive or active. In English, the unabbreviated word may also be used as a noun indic ...

1602–1650) — also Kayne, Kene, Keine, and other variants — was a comic actor in late Jacobean and

Caroline era The Caroline era is the period in English and Scottish history named for the 24-year reign of Charles I of England, Charles I (1625–1649). The term is derived from ''Carolus'', Latin for Charles. The Caroline era followed the Jacobean era, the ...

London. In his own generation he was a leading comedian and dancer, and one of the famous and popular performers of his time.

Beginnings

A child with the surname "Keane" (no Christian name recorded) was baptized on 2 March 1589; this might have been the actor/goldsmith. In 1602, Cane began a ten-year apprenticeship to his older brother Richard, who had finished his own apprenticeship and established himself as a goldsmith in 1600. The younger Cane won his "freedom" in the goldsmiths' guild in 1611. Cane married and began a family in 1612.

Jigging clown

Cane's stage career had begun by 1622, when he moved from

Lady Elizabeth's Men The Lady Elizabeth's Men, or Princess Elizabeth's Men, was a company of actors in Jacobean London, formed under the patronage of King James I's daughter Princess Elizabeth. From 1618 on, the company was called The Queen of Bohemia's Men, aft ...

(at the Cockpit) to the Palsgrave's Men (at the Fortune). After 1631 he was a "chiefe" member of the

Prince Charles's Men Prince Charles's Men (known as the Duke of York's Men from 1608 to 1612) was a playing company or troupe of actors in Jacobean and Caroline England. The Jacobean era troupe The company was formed in 1608 as the Duke of York's Men, under the titu ...

(II) troupe, and received their payments for their performances at Court. One of his jobs was dancing the jig that concluded each performance, a traditional task that clowns from

Richard Tarlton Richard Tarlton (died 5 September 1588) was an English actor of the Elizabethan era. He was the most famous clown of his era, known for his extempore comic doggerel verse, which came to be known as "Tarltons". He helped to turn Elizabethan theat ...

John Shank John Shank (also spelled Shanke or Shanks) (died January 1636) was an actor in English Renaissance theatre, a leading comedian in the King's Men during the 1620s and 1630s. Early career By his own testimony, Shank began his stage career with P ...

had fulfilled. Like other clowns in this function, Cane used the opportunity of a solo turn on the stage to develop a satiric rapport with his audience. He excelled at the task, and was said to possess "the tongue of Mercury." By the late 1630s, his political satire had grown so sharp that the Privy Council took notice; in 1639 the Council ordered the Attorney General to address the matter of Cane satirizing politicians from the stage of the

Red Bull Theatre The Red Bull Theatre was an inn-yard conversion erected in Clerkenwell, London, operating in the 17th century. For more than forty years, it entertained audiences drawn primarily from the City and its suburbs, developing a reputation over the y ...

(though the surviving records do not specify the outcome of the matter). Cane's stage career was not limited by the official scrutiny. His fame led to non-theatrical expressions: in

1641 Events January–March * January 4 – The stratovolcano Mount Parker (Philippines), Mount Parker in the Philippines has a major eruption. * January 14 – Battle of Malacca (1641), The Battle of Malacca concludes with the D ...

a pamphlet titled ''The Stage Players Complaint'' was printed, which portrays Cane and another famous clown, Timothy Read, exchanging witticisms on the issues of the day, and talking up the worth and value of playacting.

Goldsmith

A number of figures in English Renaissance drama maintained formal membership in the guilds of London; this allowed them to bind apprentices to contracts, something that actors, as retainers in noble households, could not legally do under the system of the time. Most of these men kept only a formal guild membership:

John Heminges John Heminges (bapt. 25 November 1566 – 10 October 1630) was an English actor in the King's Men, the playing company for which William Shakespeare wrote. Along with Henry Condell, he was an editor of the First Folio, the collected plays of Sha ...

maintained his membership in the grocers' guild, but didn't peddle groceries;

Ben Jonson Benjamin Jonson ( 11 June 1572 – ) was an English playwright, poet and actor. Jonson's artistry exerted a lasting influence on English poetry and stage comedy. He popularised the comedy of humours; he is best known for the satire, satirical ...

kept his membership in the bricklayers' guild, but didn't lay bricks. Andrew Cane, however, was one of a number of actors who pursued a career beyond the stage; he was a member of the goldsmiths' guild and an active goldsmith. He crossed his two careers without hesitation, turning his goldsmithing apprentices into boy actors. The 14-year-old Arthur Savill was apprenticed to Cane the goldsmith on 5 August 1631 — and before the end of the year he was playing Quartilla, one of the female roles in

Shackerley Marmion Shackerley Marmion (January 1603 – 1639), also Shakerley, Shakerly, Schackerley, Marmyon, Marmyun, or Mermion, was an early 17th-century dramatist, often classed among the Sons of Ben (literary group), Sons of Ben, the followers of Ben Jons ...

's '' Holland's Leaguer.'' The same production featured, in the role of Millicent, the 17-year-old John Wright, who'd become a Cane apprentice in 1629. (Other theatre figures of the time — actors

Robert Armin Robert Armin (c. 1568 – 1615) was an English actor, and member of the Lord Chamberlain's Men. He became the leading comedy actor with the troupe associated with William Shakespeare following the departure of Will Kempe around 1600. Also a p ...

and

John Lowin John Lowin (baptized 9 December 1576 – buried 18 March 1659 or 16 March 1669) was an English actor. Early life Born in St Giles-without-Cripplegate, London, Lowin was the son of a tanner. Like Robert Armin, he was apprenticed to a goldsmit ...

and manager Robert Keysar — came from or maintained membership in the goldsmiths' guild. Evidence of their activity as goldsmiths, however, is lacking.) The records of the parish of St. Giles without

Cripplegate Cripplegate was a city gate, gate in the London Wall which once enclosed the City of London, England. The Cripplegate gate lent its name to the Cripplegate Wards of the City of London, ward of the City, which encompasses the area where the gat ...

(which was near the

Fortune Playhouse The Fortune Playhouse was an historic theatre in London. It was located between Whitecross Street, London, Whitecross Street and the modern Golden Lane, London, Golden Lane, just outside the City of London. It was founded about 1600, and suppre ...

and the home of many theatre people) state that a foundling child called Hester, "her parents unknown," was christened on 18 April 1628; she is noted as having been "taken up" at Andrew Cane's "stall," his place of business.

Aftermath

After the theatres were closed in 1642 at the start of the

English Civil War The English Civil War or Great Rebellion was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Cavaliers, Royalists and Roundhead, Parliamentarians in the Kingdom of England from 1642 to 1651. Part of the wider 1639 to 1653 Wars of th ...

, Cane was an active supporter of the Royalist cause. By 1644, goldsmith Cane was coining the Royalists' debased coinage; he may have had to spend time in prison as a result.Milling, p. 151. Cane did not abandon acting permanently, however. On 22 January 1650, he was one of eight performers arrested at the

, for play-acting against the regulations of the

Commonwealth A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the 15th century. Originally a phrase (the common-wealth ...

regime. In 1654 Cane became involved in a lawsuit with actor

William Wintershall William Wintershall (died July 1679), also Wintersall or Wintersell, was a noted seventeenth-century English actor. His career spanned the difficult years of mid-century, when English theatres were closed from 1642 to 1660, during the English Civi ...

and his wife, over a thirty-year-old debt of £40. The debt stemmed from a 1624 agreement between theater manager Richard Gunnell and a group of actors, one of whom was Cane. Wintershall had married Gunnell's daughter Margaret in the early 1640s, and so was drawn into the matter. The outcome of the suit is unknown. The date of Cane's death is also unknown. His son Edward and grandson Andrew continued Cane's trade — not as actors, but goldsmiths.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cane, Andrew English male stage actors 17th-century English male actors Year of death unknown Year of birth unknown