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for the 1640–42 years, along with five other of the troupe's actors. yet there was no lasting personal break between the younger
Beeston and his brother-in-law, since Bird was acting as William Beeston's agent in 1652, when Beeston was still trying, despite
123:, the leading theatrical impresario of his generation; through this familial connection, Bird helped Beeston run his theatrical enterprise. In the large-scale disruption of the theatrical profession in 1636–37, when the London theatres were closed due to
58:
and active in the years 1597–1622. Theophilus was baptized on 7 December 1608. Both father
William and son Theophilus alternatively spelled their family name as Bird or Bourne. The extensive Henslowe papers in the collection of
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opposition, to pursue theatrical activities in London. On 25 March that year, Bird paid £480 of
Beeston's money to obtain a lease on the remains of the Salisbury Court. (The lease mentions that Bird was living in the parish of
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Bird was also active, at least in a marginal way, in the world of authorship, letters, and publishing. He wrote or co-wrote prefaces or dedications to dramatic works published in his era — the first editions of
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on 22 January 1641, along with five other members of the company. Bird's status as a King's Man meant that he was one of the ten members of that troupe who signed the dedication of the
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period; he was one of the relatively few actors who managed to resume their careers after the eighteen-year enforced hiatus (1642–60) when the theatres were closed during the
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175:(though he had not been one of the actors who had played in the company's productions of Fletcher's plays during the previous three decades).
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147:
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31:
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The Later
Jacobean and Caroline Dramatists: A Survey and Bibliography of Recent Studies in English Renaissance Drama,
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Vol. 9, John
Pitcher and Susan P. Cerasano, eds.; Lewisburg, PA, Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1997; p. 191.
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77:
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Bird resumed his acting career once the theatres re-opened in 1660. He was one of the fifteen men —
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at the time. The records of that parish list the burials of two of Bird's children in 1638 and 1642.)
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contain many mentions of the elder Bird and members of his family. The younger Bird started out as a
135:, Bird remained with his father-in-law and helped him to establish and run the new company known as
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Bird's son, Theophilus Bird the
Younger, pursued his own acting career during the Restoration era.
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Theophilus was the son of
William Bird, an actor long associated with the theatrical enterprise of
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35:
26:, (1608 – 1663) was a seventeenth-century English actor. Bird began his stage career in the
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1708. Edited by the Rev. Montague
Summers; reprinted New York, Benjamin Blom, 1968; pp. 71, 161.
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27:
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He resumed stage work after his recovery, and played
Prospero in Richard Rhodes's comedy
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N. W. Bawcutt, "Documents of the
Salisbury Court Theatre in the British Library," in:
143:— but the younger Beeston was unable to maintain his father's level of success.
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Like most boy actors, Bird moved on the adult roles, like Masinissa in the company's
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241:, he reportedly broke his leg while fencing onstage, during a performance of Sir
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acting female roles, as was customary at the time; he played Paulina in
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139:. Once Beeston died in 1638, his enterprise was taken over by his son
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Lincoln, NE, University of Nebraska Press, 1978; p. 142.
229:, and thirteen actors — who signed the 28 January
119:Bird married Anne Beeston, the eldest daughter of
322:London, Tinsley Brothers, 1882; Vol. 1, pp. 27-8.
279:J. B. Street, "The Durability of Boy Actors,"
305:Terence P. Logan and Denzell S. Smith, eds.,
8:
294:Medieval and Renaissance Drama in England.
233:agreement that defined the sharers in the
127:and Queen Henrietta's Men left Beeston's
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94:around 1630, when he was 21 years old.
84:. He played Tota, the Queen of Fez, in
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320:A New History of the English Stage,
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169:first Beaumont and Fletcher folio
91:The Fair Maid of the West, Part 2
367:17th-century English male actors
318:Percy Hetherington Fitzgerald,
1:
377:King's Men (playing company)
32:English Renaissance theatre
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362:English male stage actors
133:Salisbury Court Theatre
283:218 (1973), pp. 461-5.
158:St Giles in the Fields
34:, and ended it in the
202:The Witch of Edmonton
78:Queen Henrietta's Men
165:Groom of the Chamber
333:Roscius Anglicanus,
213:and collaborators.
121:Christopher Beeston
113:Hannibal and Scipio
146:Bird moved to the
281:Notes and Queries
192:The Sun's Darling
40:English Civil War
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254:Flora's Vagaries
223:Thomas Killigrew
182:The Lady's Trial
163:Bird was made a
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243:John Suckling's
237:. In September
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141:William Beeston
129:Cockpit Theatre
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61:Dulwich College
56:Philip Henslowe
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20:Theophilus Bird
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256:on 3 November
235:King's Company
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137:Beeston's Boys
131:for the rival
125:bubonic plague
106:production of
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86:Thomas Heywood
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73:The Renegado
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372:Boy players
357:1663 deaths
352:1608 births
217:Later years
69:Massinger's
44:Interregnum
36:Restoration
346:Categories
267:References
148:King's Men
65:boy player
50:Beginnings
211:John Ford
98:Maturity
42:and the
248:Aglaura
199:), and
153:Puritan
30:era of
225:, Sir
28:Stuart
24:Bourne
245:play
22:, or
258:1663
239:1662
231:1661
207:1658
197:1656
187:1639
173:1647
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82:1625
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171:of
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