Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-94fs2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-08T02:31:18.795Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Chapter 1 - Starting Points

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 November 2023

Laurie Johnson
Affiliation:
University of Southern Queensland, Australia
Get access

Summary

This first chapter begins by examining the patronage model Robert Dudley learned during his early life. He was less likely to ‘form’ a company than to acquire one, and was primed to do so even before Elizabeth was on the throne. Biographical information about the known members of the company helps to locate most of them in the parish of St. Stephen Coleman Street by 1559 or soon after, and new evidence identifies a previously unknown member as well as familial and parochial ties linking members together over many years. The key to these connections are the sisters and wives who appear alongside the players in the records, pointing to the ties between them, which I argue is true in the literal sense that these women actively maintained the bonds within the company. From a theatre history perspective, this backstory flips the standard narrative of the players not settling in London until after they had their patron. I locate them instead in the alleyways lining Coleman Street prior to 1559, and argue from this starting point that their approach to the business of playing during the next thirty years can be explained with reference to their origins as players in London.

Type
Chapter
Information
Leicester's Men and their Plays
An Early Elizabethan Playing Company and its Legacy
, pp. 19 - 63
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

  • Starting Points
  • Laurie Johnson, University of Southern Queensland, Australia
  • Book: Leicester's Men and their Plays
  • Online publication: 08 November 2023
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009366458.003
Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

  • Starting Points
  • Laurie Johnson, University of Southern Queensland, Australia
  • Book: Leicester's Men and their Plays
  • Online publication: 08 November 2023
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009366458.003
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Starting Points
  • Laurie Johnson, University of Southern Queensland, Australia
  • Book: Leicester's Men and their Plays
  • Online publication: 08 November 2023
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009366458.003
Available formats
×