Robert Dawes (
fl.
''Floruit'' (; abbreviated fl. or occasionally flor.; from Latin for "they 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 indicatin ...
1610–1614) was an English actor of the
Jacobean era. He is unique in the extant records of
English Renaissance theatre, in that his individual employment contract with one of his
acting companies has survived.
Dawes was an early and perhaps an original member and "sharer" (a partner who shared in the profits, rather than a hired man who worked for a wage) with
Prince Charles's Men, from at least 1610 on. He remained with that company only until 1614, however, when he left for the
Lady Elizabeth's Men. Dawes was admitted as a sharer in the Lady Elizabeth's troupe; his personal 3-year contract with managers
Philip Henslowe
Philip Henslowe (c. 1550 – 6 January 1616) was an Elizabethan theatrical entrepreneur and impresario. Henslowe's modern reputation rests on the survival of his diary, a primary source for information about the theatrical world of Renaissance ...
and Jacob Meade, dated 7 April of that year, spells out a schedule of graduated penalties for minor and major infractions of the rules:
[Alwin Thaler, "The Elizabethan Dramatic Companies," ''Papers of the Modern Language Association'', Vol. 35 No. 1 (1920), pp. 123-59; see pp. 134-6.]
* If Dawes was late for a rehearsal, he had to pay a fine of "twelve pence," one shilling (1 ''s.'').
* If he missed a rehearsal entirely, the fine was 2 ''s.''
* If he was late for a performance, the fine rose to 3 ''s.''
* If he was drunk at the start of a performance (in the judgement of four troupe members), the fine was 10 ''s.''
* If he missed a performance with no adequate excuse, the fine rose to one pound (£1).
* And if he was found guilty of appropriating any of the company's expensive costumes or other property (as by wearing a costume outside the theatre), the fine was a hefty (almost astronomical) £40.
(As a comparison,
William Shakespeare paid £60 for
New Place, the largest house in
Stratford-upon-Avon
Stratford-upon-Avon (), commonly known as just Stratford, is a market town and civil parish in the Stratford-on-Avon district, in the county of Warwickshire, in the West Midlands region of England. It is situated on the River Avon, north-we ...
, in 1597.)
Since no other comparable contract for an actor of the period exists, scholars cannot be certain that the Dawes document is representative. Yet there is nothing in Dawes's career that suggests he was particularly unusual, so that his contract was probably within the range of what was normal and typical for the actors of the period.
References
English male stage actors
17th-century English male actors
Year of birth unknown
Year of death unknown
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