Edward Kynaston, one of the last boy players (1889 engraving of a contemporary portrait)

Boy player is a common term for the adolescent males employed by English Renaissance acting companies. They were the performers of female roles in an age when it was considered unacceptable for women to act; there were also all-boy companies in which both sexes were played by boys. Female roles were performed by boys from the beginnings of professional English theatre (in the 1560s) to the closure of the theatres in 1642. Upon the restoration of theatre in 1660, boys were initially utilised but by about 1662 women were permitted to act on stage. Edward Kynaston (c. ... In Renaissance London, playing company was the usual term for a company of actors. ... Events January 4 - Charles I attempts to arrest five leading members of the Long Parliament, but they escape. ... // Events January 1 - Colonel George Monck with his regiment crosses from Scotland to England at the village of Coldstream and begins advance towards London in support of English Restoration. ... Events February 1 - The Chinese pirate Koxinga seizes the island of Taiwan after a nine-month siege. ...

Purpose and organization

There was no law against women on stage: English Renaissance audiences seem to have simply considered it unthinkable, since no-one ever argued in favour of it in the period. Pre-pubescent boys were used because their high-pitched voices sound more like women; however, popular actors might continue playing women well into their 20s.

Some boy actors were employed in playing companies such as Shakespeare's company, the King's Men, where they performed female roles (and, of course, male children if required) alongside adult male actors playing men. In Renaissance London, playing company was the usual term for a company of actors. ... William Shakespeare—born April 1564; baptised April 26, 1564; died April 23, 1616 (O.S.), May 3, 1616 (N.S.)—has a reputation as the greatest of all writers in English. ... It has been suggested that Lord Chamberlains Men be merged into this article or section. ...

However, a number of 'children's companies' were also formed, in which all roles, male and female, were played by boys. They were originally comprised of choristers from churches such as St Paul's Cathedral, but later boys were selected from a wider pool. Many of the plays of Thomas Middleton and John Marston were originally written for children's companies. St Pauls Cathedral from the south St Pauls Cathedral is a cathedral on Ludgate Hill, in the City of London, and the seat of the Bishop of London. ... Thomas Middleton (baptized April 18, 1580, died 1627) was an English Jacobean playwright and poet. ... John Marston (October 7, 1576 - June 25, 1634) was an English poet, playwright and satirist during the Elizabethan and Jacobean periods. ...

Responses

Many Puritan preachers, who hated the theatre in general, were outraged by the use of boy players, which they believed to encourage homosexual lust. In 1583, Philip Stubbes complained that plays were full of "such wanton gestures, such bawdy speeches ... such kissing and bussing" that playgoers would go home together "very friendly ... and play the sodomites, or worse" ^[1]. John Rainolds warned of the "filthy sparkles of lust to that vice the putting of women's attire on men may kindle in unclean affections"^[2]. The Puritans were originally members of a group of English Protestants seeking purity — further reforms or even separation from the established church — during the Protestant Reformation. ... 1583 was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar or a common year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar. ... Philip Stubbs (Stubbes) (c. ...

In response to such comments, the actor-playwright Thomas Heywood protested that audiences were capable of distancing themselves: "To see our youths attired in the habit of women, who knows not what there intents be? Who cannot distinguish them by their names, assuredly knowing they are but to represent such a lady, at such a time appointed?"^[3]. Thomas Heywood (died approx. ...

Famous boy players

• Edward Kynaston

Edward Kynaston (c. ...

Notes

1. ^ Philip Stubbes, The Anatomy of Abuses (1583), quoted in Bruce R. Smith, ed. Twelfth Night: Texts and Contexts (New York: Bedford St Martin's, 2001), p. 275.
2. ^ John Rainolds, The Overthrow of Stage Playes (1599), quoted in Smith, Twelfth Night, p. 276
3. ^ Thomas Heywood, An Apology for Actors (1612), quoted in Smith, Twelfth Night, p. 276