{"id":2874,"date":"2022-09-05T11:33:32","date_gmt":"2022-09-05T10:33:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/folio400.com\/?post_type=phernalia&p=2874"},"modified":"2022-09-14T10:10:20","modified_gmt":"2022-09-14T09:10:20","slug":"first-folio-actors-richard-burbage","status":"publish","type":"phernalia","link":"https:\/\/folio400.com\/phernalia\/first-folio-actors-richard-burbage\/","title":{"rendered":"The First Folio Actors & the First Shakespearean \u2018Star\u2019, Richard Burbage"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
The 1623 First Folio is famously the first collected edition of Shakespeare\u2019s plays, and the earliest printed source we have for a number of his dramatic works. Less well-known is the fact that the 1623 text also preserves one of the most comprehensive lists of the actors who originally performed in his plays.<\/p>
The First Folio\u2019s list of \u2018the Principall Actors in all these Playes\u2019 names twenty-six men and boys. This includes Shakespeare, whose name appears first, in pride of place, as well as John Heminges (1566-1630) and Henry Condell (fl.<\/i>\u00a01598-1627)\u2014the company fellows who oversaw the publication of the First Folio\u2014William Kemp (fl.<\/i>\u00a01585-1602), the company\u2019s first clown, famous for his jigs and improvisation and the originator of comic roles such as Dogberry (Much Ado About Nothing<\/i>) and Bottom (Midsummer Night\u2019s Dream<\/i>), and Kemp\u2019s replacement as company fool, Robert Armin (c<\/i>.1567-1615), for whom Shakespeare wrote roles such as Feste (Twelfth Night<\/i>) and the Fool in\u00a0King Lear<\/i>.<\/p>
The list of actors also includes early company members from the days of the Lord Chamberlain\u2019s Men (1594-1603), such as Augustine Phillips (fl.<\/i>\u00a01590-1605), Thomas Pope (fl.<\/i>\u00a01586-1603), George Bryan (fl.<\/i>\u00a01586-96), William Sly (fl.<\/i>\u00a01590-1608), and Richard Cowley (fl.<\/i>\u00a01593-1619), as well as later adult members of the King\u2019s Men such as Nathan Field (1587-1620), Joseph Taylor (1586?-1652), Robert Benfield (c.<\/i>\u00a01583-1649), John Lowin (1576-1653), William Ostler (c.<\/i>\u00a01588-1614) and John Shank (c.<\/i>\u00a01570-1636). Others named in the list are known to have joined the Shakespeare company as boy apprentices, including Alexander Cooke (c.<\/i>\u00a01583\/4-1614), Nicholas Tooley (fl.<\/i>\u00a01603-23), John Rice (1590?-1630>) and Richard Robinson (c.<\/i>\u00a01596-1648).<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t