Richard Robinson (died March 1648) was an actor in

English Renaissance theatre English Renaissance theatre, also known as Renaissance English theatre and Elizabethan theatre, refers to the theatre of England between 1558 and 1642. This is the style of the plays of William Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe and Ben Jonso ...

and a member of

Shakespeare's William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

company the King's Men.

Biography

Robinson started out as a

boy player Boy player refers to children who performed in Medieval and English Renaissance playing companies. Some boy players worked for the adult companies and performed the female roles as women did not perform on the English stage in this period. Others ...

with the company; in 1611 he played the Lady in their production of '' The Second Maiden's Tragedy.'' He was cast in their production of

Ben Jonson Benjamin "Ben" Jonson (c. 11 June 1572 – c. 16 August 1637) was an English playwright and poet. Jonson's artistry exerted a lasting influence upon English poetry and stage comedy. He popularised the comedy of humours; he is best known for ...

's ''

Catiline Lucius Sergius Catilina ( 108 BC – January 62 BC), known in English as Catiline (), was a Roman politician and soldier. He is best known for instigating the Catilinarian conspiracy, a failed attempt to violently seize control of the ...

'' in the same year, and in their '' Bonduca,'' c. 1613. He became a sharer in the King's Men in

1619 Events January–June * January 12 – James I of England's Banqueting House, Whitehall in London is destroyed by fire."Fires, Great", in ''The Insurance Cyclopeadia: Being an Historical Treasury of Events and Circumstances Co ...

, perhaps succeeding Richard Cowley; and he was cast in their revival of Webster's '' The Duchess of Malfi'' c. 1621. Robinson reportedly played the part of Wittipol in Jonson's '' The Devil is an Ass'' in

1616 Events January–June * January ** Six-year-old António Vieira arrives from Portugal, with his parents, in Bahia (present-day Salvador) in Colonial Brazil, where he will become a diplomat, noted author, leading figure of the Church, an ...

. In the printed text of that play ( 1631), Jonson praises Robinson's acting of female roles and calls him an "ingenious youth." Robinson played the role of Aesopus in the company's 1626 production of Massinger's '' The Roman Actor,'' and Count Orsinio in Lodowick Carlell's ''

The Deserving Favourite ''The Deserving Favourite'' is a Caroline era stage play, a tragicomedy written by Lodowick Carlell that was first published in 1629. The earliest of Carlell's plays "and also the best," it is notable for its influence on other plays of the Car ...

'' ( 1629). Robinson is included in the cast lists for the company's productions of '' Bonduca'', ''

The Double Marriage ''The Double Marriage'' is a Jacobean era stage play, a tragedy written by John Fletcher and Philip Massinger, and initially printed in the first Beaumont and Fletcher folio of 1647. Date and performance Though firm evidence on the play's da ...

'', '' A Wife for a Month'', and '' The Wild Goose Chase'', plays in the canon of John Fletcher and his collaborators. According to the last will and testament of Nicholas Tooley, Robinson owed Tooley £29 13''s.'' in 1623; Tooley forgave the debt in his will. Robinson married Winifred Burbage (d.1642), the widow of

Richard Burbage Richard Burbage (c. 1567 – 13 March 1619) was an English stage actor, widely considered to have been one of the most famous actors of the Globe Theatre and of his time. In addition to being a stage actor, he was also a theatre owner, entr ...

. Together with Cuthbert Burbage,

William Heminges William Heminges (1602 – c. 1653?), also Hemminges, Heminge, and other variants, was a playwright and theatrical figure of the Caroline period. He was the ninth child and third son of John Heminges, the actor and colleague of William Shakespear ...

, Joseph Taylor and John Lowin, Robinson and his wife, Winifred, filed a Bill of Complaint on 28 January 1632 in the

Court of Requests The Court of Requests was a minor equity court in England and Wales. It was instituted by King Richard III in his 1484 parliament. It first became a formal tribunal with some Privy Council elements under Henry VII, hearing cases from the poor an ...

against the owner of the Globe, Sir Matthew Brend, in order to obtain confirmation of an extension of the 31-year lease originally granted by Sir Matthew Brend's father, Nicholas Brend.. Robinson was one of the King's Men who signed the dedication of the first Beaumont and Fletcher folio in

1647 Events January–March * January 2 – Chinese bandit leader Zhang Xianzhong, who has ruled the Sichuan province since 1644, is killed at Xichong by a Qing archer after having been betrayed one of his officers, Liu Jinzhong. ...

. Seventeenth-century sources, including James Wright's '' Historia Histrionica'' (

1699 Events January–March * January 5 – A violent Java earthquake damages the city of Batavia on the Indonesian island of Java, killing at least 28 people * January 20 – The Parliament of England (under Tory dominance) limits the size ...

), falsely report that Robinson was killed in the

siege of Basing House The siege of Basing House near Basingstoke in Hampshire, was a Parliamentarian victory late in the First English Civil War. Whereas the title of the event may suggest a single siege, there were in fact three major engagements. John Paule ...

in October 1645, during the

English Civil War The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians ("Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I ("Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of Kingdom of England, England's governanc ...

. Richard Robinson was probably confused with another actor with a similar name; there was more than one Robinson in Caroline era theatre —; though the actor in question was most likely comedian and fellow King's Man William Robbins. In fact, Richard Robinson was buried at St. Anne's Church, in Blackfriars, on 23 March 1648.

Notes

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Robinson, Richard English male stage actors 17th-century English male actors 1648 deaths Year of birth unknown King's Men (playing company)