“Rogues, vagabonds and sturdy beggars”
Why acclaim was in short supply for most actors in Burbage’s day
To borrow from the philosopher Thomas Hobbes, the career of a Jacobethan actor was nasty, brutish and quite often short. Though going to plays was a popular pastime, the authorities took a dim view of the people who performed them. Actors were branded “rogues, vagabonds and sturdy beggars” in an infamous statute of 1572, and the number of companies that could operate was strictly controlled.
London’s Puritan city fathers detested theatres and all they stood for, and were forever angling for them to be closed down, citing lewdness, frivolousness, time-wasting and incitements to sedition. Theatres were even accused of being breeding grounds for the plague. Between 1603 and 1612, the capital’s playhouses went dark for a total of almost seven years, often for long stretches at a time, forcing actors into other employment or out on tour, either in England or the continent.
For the few actors lucky enough to get a job in a troupe under the protection of the monarch or a nobleman, life was a little more secure – though it was also hectic. Companies were all-male – no women were allowed to perform in public theatres in the period – and had up to 20 members. They were composed of senior actors with a stake in the company (called ‘sharers’), freelance ‘hired men’, plus a small group of musicians. Three or four teenage boys would usually be resident, too, taking female roles and training with a ‘master’ until their voices broke and they could graduate too the adult troupe.
Actors were cast in a variety of roles, often playing ing a number of different parts s per play, and were also expected to sing, dance and nd display impressive swordssmanship skills. With 30-plus us plays performed each season, ason, many of them new, they alsoso had to memorise lines at great speed (there might only be one group roup rehearsal per show).
For a ‘sharer’ like Richard rd Burbage, the pace would have been relentless. Public performances were schedduled in the afternoons, so mornings would be given over to private rehearsal and nd studying scripts (Burbage must have had a prodigious memory). Waiting for him offstage were negotiations with patrons, and company business, followed by perhaps more performances at court in the evenings. As the historian Mary Edmond, wrote, “he did well to reach
the age of 50”.