Queen Anne's Men
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Queen Anne's Men, or the Queen's Men, was a Jacobean theatrical company.
The troupe was formed on the accession of James I in 1603, and named after its patron, James's wife Anne of Denmark. It was a combination of two previously-existing companies, Oxford's Men and Pembroke's Men. Among the company's most important members were Christopher Beeston, its manager, and Thomas Heywood, an actor-dramatist who wrote many of its plays, including The Rape of Lucrece (printed 1608) and The Golden Age (printed 1611). William Kempe finished his career with this company, though he died ca. 1607–8.
The company originally performed at the Curtain playhouse—they acted The Travels of the Three English Brothers, by William Rowley, John Day, and George Wilkins, there in 1607; but they also acted the same play at the Red Bull Theatre in Clerkenwell that same year, becoming the first company to play there. For modern readers, the company's best-known play is John Webster's tragedy The White Devil, which received a disastrous premiere in 1612.
Despite their royal patronage, Queen Anne's Men seemed to have performed only sporadically at Court in their first decade—something less than once a year on average. But they played twice at Court in the winter of 1613–14, three times in the following winter, and four times in 1615–16. They toured widely every summer throughout this period.
In 1617 they moved to the Cockpit Theatre, in the increasingly fashionable Drury Lane. The final move apparently engendered some criticism and indignation among their Clerkenwell followers, as the Cockpit was set on fire during a Shrove Tuesday riot in 1617 and had to be rebuilt.
The company disbanded after the death of Queen Anne in 1619.
[edit] References
- Chambers, E. K. The Elizabethn Stage. 4 Volumes, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1923.
- Halliday, F. E. A Shakespeare Companion 1564–1964. Baltimore, Penguin, 1964.
