Theatre Acting of English Women

Village Performance Events to Professional Venues

Nov 4, 2009

The often-repeated statement that women were banned from the stages of English theatres until King Charles II changed the rules is not entirely accurate.

The belief pertains only to the chartered professional theatre companies. Women’s contributions to theatrical developments have been largely ignored. They were very much involved in many capacities. Theatre was not the exclusive property of male players.

No actual law forbade women to appear on stage. Some factions of society considered their public participation to be immoral and an abomination.

Males, the only performers in chartered acting companies, were frequently referred to as ‘players’, not actors. Their roles included not just acting, but singing and dancing as well.

Female Performers in England’s Courts and Villages

While English women were not members of the companies, they were ‘players’ in a wide variety of venues. In the courts and manors the plays and masques (dramatic performances similar to opera) included male and female players. Members of elite society frequently participated in the performances.

In towns and villages, women were players in pageants, dramas, and festivals. They were fully engaged as actors, dancers, musicians, and jesters. As members of local guilds, women also sponsored and produced entertainments.

Itinerant acting troupes often comprised families whose sole incomes came from performances by all members. It was not an easy life. In areas where they were treated with suspicion, they performed and quickly moved on.

Women who made medicines hawked them at village gatherings. Known as mountebanks, they sang and danced to attract customers. For them, it was as legitimate a form of entertainment as those of court performers.

Spanish and Italian Female Players

Early in the 16th century, a woman’s appearance on the Spanish professional stage received mixed responses. A special edict issued by King Charles V to prevent her performances was mostly ignored.

In Italy, Isabella Andreini, Vittoria Piisimi, and other female performers became prominent during the late 16th century. Talented players in tragedies, comedies, and farces, they were internationally famous.

Pope Innocent IX forbade the appearance of women on the stage. Regardless of his decree, female players became full members in professional theatre companies of Spain, Italy, and France.

French Actresses at Blackfriars Theatre

The wife of King Charles I, Henrietta Maria was born in France. In 1629 she invited a French acting company that included women to perform at London’s Blackfriars Theatre. Audience response was mixed. Some members were fascinated while others were horrified.

An observer wrote that they were hissed and hooted at, and “pippin-pelted from the stage”. It was stated that the troupe quickly retreated to France. Actually, they performed at two more theatres – the Red Bull and the Fortune. Puritan William Prynne, author of The Player’s Scourge referred to the French women as monsters.

During the period when theatres were officially closed, (1642-1660), Mrs. Coleman appeared. Cited as the first female on the English stage, she played Ianthe in William Davenant’s Siege of Rhodes. The spectacle was not staged in an official theatre, but the playwright’s manor, Rutland House.

Restoration, Theatrical Companies, and Actresses in 1660

Soon after the Restoration, Charles II issued charters to two new theatrical companies. Thomas Killegrew’s King’s Players and William Davenant’s Duke of York’s Servants were ordered to use only females in the roles of women.

The reasons were two-fold. During his years of exile in Europe, Charles enjoyed the lively theatrical performances that included women.

Perhaps the more important reason was Charles’ wish to avoid difficulties pertaining to male players’ cross dressing. The earlier practice of having only boys and men portray women was finished. Edward Kynaston was one of the last known male performers to appear as a female in serious drama.

It has been said that Charles “opened the doors for actresses in England”. Those women who performed at courts and festivals and with itinerant troupes had a part in opening those doors. What had once been an inconceivable concept became the norm.

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The copyright of the article Theatre Acting of English Women in Theatre History is owned by Kathleen Airdrie. Permission to republish Theatre Acting of English Women in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.