Book contents
- Boy Actors in Early Modern England
- Boy Actors in Early Modern England
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Acknowledgements
- Textual Note
- List of Abbreviations
- Introduction
- Chapter 1 ‘All Feats of Activitie, and Motions’
- Chapter 2 Staging Skill
- Chapter 3 ‘The Bettering of the Body’
- Chapter 4 ‘Sport Indeede’
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index
Chapter 2 - Staging Skill
Movement, Metatheatre, and Boy Actors’ Theatrical Reputations
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 25 August 2022
- Boy Actors in Early Modern England
- Boy Actors in Early Modern England
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Acknowledgements
- Textual Note
- List of Abbreviations
- Introduction
- Chapter 1 ‘All Feats of Activitie, and Motions’
- Chapter 2 Staging Skill
- Chapter 3 ‘The Bettering of the Body’
- Chapter 4 ‘Sport Indeede’
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
This chapter considers how the moving, working bodies of boy actors were depicted on stage throughout the early modern period, drawing together a number of metatheatrical instances which explicitly stage the acquisition and performance of theatrical skill. Focusing particularly on moments in plays by Ben Jonson, John Marston, and William Shakespeare, it argues for a theatre directly influenced by and representative of early modern culture's fascination with boys' physical capacities. Having established the early modern stage as a site of heightened physical display, the chapter moves to consider what bearing this culture of physical training and skill demonstration had on the careers and reputations of individual boy actors. It traces the careers of leading boy actors Nathan Field and Richard Robinson, attending to the highly physical nature of the roles these boys played, as well as how playwrights and audiences celebrated and commemorated the corporeal nature of their performances. Boy actors' physical performances, it ultimately argues, had a demonstrable impact on individual careers and reputations as well as company repertories.
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- Boy Actors in Early Modern EnglandSkill and Stagecraft in the Theatre, pp. 57 - 93Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2022