Michael Bowyer (1599–1645) was an actor in

English Renaissance theatre The English Renaissance theatre or Elizabethan theatre was the theatre of England from 1558 to 1642. Its most prominent playwrights were William Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe and Ben Jonson. Background The term ''English Renaissance theatr ...

in the Jacobean and Caroline eras. He spent most of his maturity with

Queen Henrietta's Men Queen Henrietta's Men was an important playing company or troupe of actors of the Caroline era in London, England. At their peak of popularity, Queen Henrietta's Men were the second leading troupe of the day, after only the King's Men. Beginnin ...

, but finished his career with the King's Men. With the former company, he was one of "those of principal note," according to James Wright's ''

Historia Histrionica ''Historia Histrionica'' is a 1699 literary work by James Wright (1643-1713), on the subject of theatre in England in the seventeenth century. It is an essential resource for information on the actors and theatrical life of the period, providing ...

'' ( 1699), one of the troupe's "eminent actors." Bowyer, the son of a John Bowyer, was christened on 20 September 1599 in

Kidderminster Kidderminster is a market town and civil parish in Worcestershire, England, south-west of Birmingham and north of Worcester, England, Worcester. Located north of the River Stour, Worcestershire, River Stour and east of the River Severn, in th ...

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Shropshire, Staffordshire, and the West Midlands (county), West ...

. He played a series of important roles through his career, including: * Beaufort in

James Shirley James Shirley (or Sherley) (September 1596 – October 1666) was an English dramatist. He belonged to the great period of English dramatic literature, but, in Charles Lamb (writer), Charles Lamb's words, he "claims a place among the worthies of ...

's '' The Wedding''; * King John in Robert Davenport's '' King John and Matilda''; * Vitelli in

Philip Massinger Philip Massinger (1583 – 17 March 1640) was an English dramatist. His plays, including '' A New Way to Pay Old Debts'', '' The City Madam'', and '' The Roman Actor'', are noted for their satire and realism, and their political and soci ...

's '' The Renegado''; * Mr. Spencer in

Thomas Heywood Thomas Heywood (early 1570s – 16 August 1641) was an English playwright, actor, and author. His main contributions were to late Elizabethan and early Jacobean theatre. He is best known for his masterpiece ''A Woman Killed with Kindness'', a ...

's ''

The Fair Maid of the West ''The Fair Maid of the West, or a Girl Worth Gold, Parts 1 and 2'' is a work of English Renaissance drama, a two-part play written by Thomas Heywood that was first published in 1631. Date The dates of authorship of the two parts of ''The Fai ...

''; * Scipio in

Thomas Nabbes Thomas Nabbes (1605 – buried 6 April 1641) was an English dramatist. He was born in humble circumstances in Worcestershire, was educated at as a King's scholar at the King's School, Worcester (1616–1620), and entered Exeter College, Oxf ...

's '' Hannibal and Scipio''. Robert Davenport dedicated his poem ''Too Late to Call Back Yesterday'' to Bowyer and Richard Robinson. The Queen's Men were disrupted by a long theatre closure due to

bubonic plague Bubonic plague is one of three types of Plague (disease), plague caused by the Bacteria, bacterium ''Yersinia pestis''. One to seven days after exposure to the bacteria, flu-like symptoms develop. These symptoms include fever, headaches, and ...

, which lasted from May 1636 to October 1637. Bowyer, along with three other veterans of that troupe, may have been with

at the Werburgh Street Theatre in

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

from 1637 to 1640. Bowyer was a member of the King's Men by January 1640. He was one of the six members of that company who were named Grooms of the Chamber on 22 January 1641, indicating that he was a sharer in the troupe by that time. As with many actors, his fortunes passed into eclipse after the London theatres were closed in September 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 ...

. According to a 1655 lawsuit filed by fellow Queen Henrietta's and King's Man

Theophilus Bird Theophilus Bird, or Bourne, (1608 – 1663) was a seventeenth-century English actor. Bird began his stage career in the Stuart era of English Renaissance theatre, and ended it in the Restoration period; he was one of the relatively few acto ...

, Bowyer, along with Thomas Pollard and other members of the King's Men, sold off the company's play scripts and costumes sometime after the theatres closed. By the time of Bird's suit, Bowyer was a decade dead. Little is known of Bowyer's personal life. He and his wife christened and then buried a son named William in 1621; and they christened and buried another son of the same name the following year, 1622.Emma Marshall Denkinger, "Actors' Names in the Registers of St. Bodolph Aldgate," ''Papers of the Modern Language Association'' Vol. 41 No. 1 (March 1926), pp. 91–109; see pp. 98–9.

References

External links

''Theatre Notebook''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bowyer, Michael 17th-century English male actors 1599 births 1645 deaths King's Men (playing company)