A Jacobean Company and its Playhouse
The Queen's Servants at the Red Bull Theatre (c.1605–1619)

The first history of the Queen's Servants, parallel players to Shakespeare's company, and their playhouse, The Red Bull.

Eva Griffith (Author)

9781107615045, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 17 December 2015

306 pages, 14 b/w illus.
23 x 15.3 x 1.6 cm, 0.46 kg

'Griffith's rich account of the Queen's Servants and the Red Bull transforms the company's archival presence into a clear and compelling narrative that adds significantly to an understanding not only of this particular company's history and repertoire, but also of how Jacobean theatrical companies operated more broadly. A Jacobean Company does indeed provide 'much-needed data'; but it also eloquently arranges that data into a story replete with 'the kinds of contexts that all histories of theatres deserve to have'.' Jonathan Koch, The Shakespeare Newsletter

Eva Griffith's book fills a major gap concerning the world of Shakespearean drama. It tells the previously untold story of the Servants of Queen Anna of Denmark, a group of players parallel to Shakespeare's King's Men, and their London playhouse, The Red Bull. Built in vibrant Clerkenwell, The Red Bull lay within the northern suburbs of Jacobean London, with prostitution to the west and the Revels Office to the east. Griffith sets the playhouse in the historical context of the Seckford and Bedingfeld families and their connections to the site. Utilising a wealth of primary evidence including maps, plans and archival texts, she analyses the court patronage of figures such as Sir Robert Sidney, Queen Anna's chamberlain, alongside the company's members, function and repertoire. Plays performed included those by Webster, Dekker and Heywood - entertainments characterised by spectacle, battle sequence and courtroom drama, alongside London humour and song.

Introduction: The Red Bull Theatre, St John Street
1. Elizabethan contexts for a Jacobean playhouse: Clerkenwell, East Anglia, the Strand and the Liberty of the Clink (1586–99)
2. The Earl of Worcester, the Essex Circle, the Queen's Servants and their playhouses (1586–1607)
3. Who were the Queen's Servants? What was the Red Bull like?
4. The court and its women: Queen Anna, her circle, and some women-centred plays
5. Entities and splinter groups: the Queen's Servants' companies at the courts, in England and in Europe
6. The company: 1605–12
7. The company: 1612–19
Conclusion: St John's Day at night.

Subject Areas: Literary studies: classical, early & medieval [DSBB], Theatre studies [AN]