Alleyn and Prostitution/Brothels
Melanie Sands
running a brothel, this time about Ned Alleyn the actor
together with father-in-law Henslowe...
In a way, his biography on Wikipedia is interesting to me because it
shows
what kind of life Shakespeare might have had - fills in the gaps, so
to speak.
Wikipedia says of Alleyn:
QUOTE:
Edward Alleyn ( /ˈælɪn/; 1 September 1566 – 25 November 1626) was an
English actor who was a major figure of the Elizabethan theatre and
founder of Dulwich College and Alleyn's School.
Early lifeHe was born in Bishopsgate, London, a younger son of Edward
Alleyn, an innkeeper and porter to the queen, and Margaret Townley.[1]
His mother's link to the Lancashire Townley family is somewhat of a
mystery. Alleyn himself stated she was the daughter of John Townley of
Townley, however this does not easily fit with the available
information on the Townley family tree.[1] Regardless the present-day
road that passes his school was named after her in 1884.[2] He was
baptised at St Botolph-without-Bishopsgate. He was known to
contemporaries as "Ned"; his surname is variously spelled Allen or
Alleyne.
Career on the boardsIt is not known at what date he began to act, but
in 1583 his name was on the list of the Earl of Worcester's players.
[3] He was eventually rated by common consent as the foremost actor of
his time; his only close rival was Richard Burbage.[4]
He played the title roles in three of Christopher Marlowe's major
plays: Faustus, Tamburlaine, and Barabas in The Jew of Malta. He
created the parts, which were probably written especially for him. The
evidence for his stage career is otherwise fragmentary. Other parts
thought to be associated with Alleyn are Orlando in Robert Greene's
Orlando Furioso, and perhaps Hieronymo in The Spanish Tragedy by
Thomas Kyd.[5] Some further and lost works are thought to have had
Alleyn in leading roles, including plays by George Peele such as The
Battle of Alcazar.[6] In a private letter, he mocked himself as a
'fustian king'.[7]
In 1593, while the bubonic plague was affecting London, he joined
forces with some of Lord Strange's Men in a provincial tour, combining
them with players from the Admiral's Men with which he was then
associated. It extended as far as Bristol, Shrewsbury, Chester, and
York.[1]
He retired at the height of his fame around 1598, and it is said that
Queen Elizabeth herself requested his return to the stage, which he
did until 1604. Ben Jonson bestowed praise on Alleyn's acting.[8]
Thomas Nashe expressed in Pierce Penniless (1593) his admiration for
him, in a quartet of English actors including also John Bentley,
William Knell and the clown Richard Tarlton;[1] while Thomas Heywood
calls him "inimitable", "the best of actors," "Proteus for shapes and
Roscius for a tongue." Thomas Fuller in his Worthies later wrote of
Alleyn's reputation of "so acting to the life that he made any part to
become him".
[edit] In businessHe went into business with Philip Henslowe, his
father-in-law, and eventually became wealthy. He became part owner in
Henslowe's ventures, and in the end sole proprietor of several
profitable playhouses, bear-pits and brothels. Among these were the
Rose Theatre at Bankside, the Paris Garden and the Fortune Theatre on
Finsbury Fields. The Fortune was built for Alleyn and Henslowe in
1600, the year after the rival Globe Theatre was completed south of
the river, by the same contractor Peter Street, but was square rather
than round;[9] it was occupied by the Admiral's Men, of which Alleyn
was the head.
He filled, too, in conjunction with Henslowe, the post of "master of
the king's games of bears, bulls and dogs." On some occasions he
directed the sport in person, and John Stow in his Chronicles gives an
account of how Alleyn baited a lion before James I at the Tower of
London.
[edit] College founderAlleyn's connection with Dulwich began in 1605,
when he bought the manor of Dulwich from Sir Francis Calton. The
landed property, of which the entire estate had not passed into
Alleyn's hands earlier than 1614, stretched from Sydenham Hill on
whose summit now stands the Crystal Palace television transmission
tower, to the crest of the parallel ridge, three miles nearer London,
known in its several portions as Herne Hill, Denmark Hill and Champion
Hill. Alleyn acquired this large property for little more than
£35,000. He began the task of building and endowing the College of
God's Gift at Dulwich.
All was completed in 1617 except the charter or deed of incorporation
for setting his lands in mortmain. Delays occurred in the Star
Chamber, where Lord Chancellor Bacon brought pressure to bear on
Alleyn, with the aim of securing a portion of the proposed endowment
for the maintenance of lectureships at Oxford and Cambridge. This
approach was in line with scepticism on Bacon's part about the impact
of charitable foundations, compared to a scheme put forward by Sir
Henry Savile and Sir Edwin Sandys that lacked funds.[10] Alleyn
finally carried his point and the College of God's Gift at Dulwich was
founded, and endowed under letters patent of James I, dated 21 June
1619. Building had already been begun in 1613.
Alleyn was not a member of his own foundation, but he guided and
controlled its affairs under powers reserved to himself in the letters
patent. His diary shows that he mixed much and intimately in the life
of the college. He engaged the boys in occasional theatrical
performances: at a festive gathering on 6 January 1622 "the boyes
play'd a playe."
[edit] Marriages
Alleyn's first wife, Joan, 1596.Alleyn inherited property in
Bishopsgate from his father. He married on 22 October 1592 Joan
Woodward, stepdaughter of Philip Henslowe. She died on 28 June 1623.
On December 3 of that same year he married Constance, daughter of John
Donne, the poet and dean of St Paul's. He had no children. Constance
remarried in 1630, to a Samuel Harvey.[1]
[edit] Death and memorialAlleyn died in November 1626 and was buried
in the chapel of the college which he had founded. His gravestone
fixes the day of his death as the 21st, but there are grounds for the
belief that it was the 25th. In 1610 Alleyn was a member of the
corporation of wardens of St Saviour's, Southwark and there is a
memorial window to him in the cathedral. A portrait of the actor is on
display at Dulwich Picture Gallery.
Alleyn is unusual among figures in 16th-century drama because a large
selection of his private papers have survived. They were published in
1843 as The Alleyn Papers, edited by scholar-forger John Payne
Collier.
[edit] Portrayals in popular cultureAlleyn appears as a character in
the 1998 film Shakespeare in Love played by Ben Affleck. He is
portrayed as a self-absorbed but well-admired actor who agrees to
originate the role of Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet after being told
that the play's title is "Mercutio" (an obvious parody of a
stereotypical Hollywood star). Alleyn's provincial tour with the
Admiral's Men, and his known roles in Marlowe's plays (as well as his
playing Henry VI by Shakespeare) are mentioned in the dialogue of the
film. He is depicted as advising Shakespeare to change the name to
"Romeo & Juliet" to suit the focus of the play.
UNQUOTE
book...@yahoo.com
<Melani...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>In 2002 there was already a discussion on HLAS about earning money by
>running a brothel, this time about Ned Alleyn the actor
>together with father-in-law Henslowe...
>
>In a way, his biography on Wikipedia is interesting to me because it
>shows
>what kind of life Shakespeare might have had - fills in the gaps, so
>to speak.
>
>Wikipedia says of Alleyn:
>
>QUOTE:
>
>Edward Alleyn ( /?�l?n/; 1 September 1566 � 25 November 1626) was an
In the above, I don't see much connection between Alleyn's theatre
businesses and prostitution/brothels. Even use of the theatres by
prostitutes/Orange Girls isn't mentioned. bookburn
Melanie Sands
because but Ned Alleyn reminded me a
bit of Shakespeare, in that there are gaps - it is not know when
he began to act, he went into business with Henslowe and made a
lot of money, etc.
I think Ms Weir had some conception that actors could not become
rich, but since the theatre/plays were the only forms of what one
can loosely call intellectual live entertainment - that is, excluding
cock-fighting, bear baiting and wrestling matches etc. - and that
women would also be in the audience in the theatre, enlarging the
target audience - there was quite some money to be earned in the
business, without resorting to sexual services to up the income.
Melanie
Am 28.07.2011 11:32, schrieb book...@yahoo.com:
> On Thu, 28 Jul 2011 00:21:25 -0700 (PDT), Melanie Sands
> <Melani...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
>> In 2002 there was already a discussion on HLAS about earning money by
>> running a brothel, this time about Ned Alleyn the actor
>> together with father-in-law Henslowe...
>>
>> In a way, his biography on Wikipedia is interesting to me because it
>> shows
>> what kind of life Shakespeare might have had - fills in the gaps, so
>> to speak.
>>
>> Wikipedia says of Alleyn:
>>
>> QUOTE:
>>
>> Edward Alleyn ( /?�l?n/; 1 September 1566 � 25 November 1626) was an
>> �35,000. He began the task of building and endowing the College of
>> "Romeo& Juliet" to suit the focus of the play.
>>
>> UNQUOTE
book...@yahoo.com
top-post. Whee!
The case for prostitution associated with the theatres probably
includes the following, AFAICR:
1. Theatres were "across the river" and in the same district as
whorehouses, which were referred to in slang as an abbess, bordello,
brothel, crib, humpty dump, nunnery, etc., so by proximity and
association in that carnival atmosphere theatres traded on the same
customers. Surely prostitutes were attracted to customers leaving
plays. Who knows what was allowed to be going on close to the box
office.
2. Use of theatres as brothels was probably not limited to tyreing
rooms (where costumes were changed), but in dark corners and perhaps
private seats in the reserved sections higher up. Who knows what
prostitutes outside brothels would engage in or where or how. For all
I know, prostitutes regularly attended plays, perhaps as highly paid
courtesans for cavaliers. Don't know just how much the addition of
Blackfriars relates to such matters of public vs. private tastes.
3. The Orange Girls evidently were present in Shakespeare's theatres
and sold not only oranges, etc., but made assignations with customers.
This is documented about theatres at least soon after Shakespeare's
time.
4. Difficulty in accounting for the source of wealth for Alleyn and
Shakespeare often resorts to supposing they were in the business of
prostitution, as owners of brothels and/or other associations with the
trade.
5. Conjecture about the acting trade supposes that the bad reputation
actors had came not only from loose living while traveling and
attracting customers, but perhaps the whole show business idea that
these were performers who made up and flaunted themselves for money.
No doubt the rich and famous, even royalty were supplied with their
services in more private venues.
6. Close to prostitution might be occasions when the actors were sent
notes by wealthy spectators who wanted private performances. Perhaps
someone in theatre management served as a reliable agent.
7. My theory is that in Shakespeare's time public theatres were the
locus of Secret Service activities, probably at the levels of
contacting visiting courtiers and developing "pillow talk"
relationships. Traveling troupes, too? I say, yes. bookburn
>>> Edward Alleyn ( /?�l?n/; 1 September 1566 � 25 November 1626) was an
>>> �35,000. He began the task of building and endowing the College of