Theophilus Bird
Encyclopedia
Theophilus Bird, or Bourne, (1608 – 1663) was a seventeenth-century English actor. Bird began his stage career in the Stuart
era of English Renaissance theatre
, and ended it in the Restoration
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 English Civil War
and the Interregnum
.
and active in the years 1597–1622. Theophilus was baptized on December 7, 1608. Both father William and son Theophilus alternatively spelled their family name as Bird or Bourne. The extensive Henslowe papers in the collection of Dulwich College
contain many mentions of the elder Bird and members of his family. The younger Bird started out as a boy player
acting female roles, as was customary at the time; he played Paulina in Massinger's
The Renegado
for Queen Henrietta's Men
in 1625
. He played Tota, the Queen of Fez, in Thomas Heywood
's The Fair Maid of the West, Part 2
around 1630, when he was 21 years old.
production of Thomas Nabbes
's Hannibal and Scipio
.
Bird married Anne Beeston, the eldest daughter of Christopher Beeston
, the leading theatrical impressario 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 bubonic plague
and Queen Henrietta's Men left Beeston's Cockpit Theatre
for the rival Salisbury Court Theatre
, Bird remained with his father-in-law and helped him to establish and run the new company known as Beeston's Boys
. Once Beeston died in 1638, his enterprise was taken over by his son William Beeston
— but the younger Beeston was unable to maintain his father's level of success.
Bird moved to the King's Men
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 Puritan
opposition, to pursue theatrical activities in London. On March 25 of 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 St Giles in the Fields
at the time. The records of that parish list the burials of two of Bird's children in 1638 and 1642.)
Bird was made a Groom of the Chamber
on January 22, 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 first Beaumont and Fletcher folio
of 1647
(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).
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 The Lady's Trial
(1639
), The Sun's Darling
(1656
), and The Witch of Edmonton
(1658
), works of John Ford
and collaborators.
, Sir Robert Howard
, and thirteen actors — who signed the January 28, 1661
agreement that defined the sharers in the King's Company
. In September 1662
, he reportedly broke his leg while fencing onstage, during a performance of Sir John Suckling's
play Aglaura
. He resumed stage work after his recovery, and played Prospero in Richard Rhodes's comedy Flora's Vagaries on November 3, 1663
.
Bird's son, Theophilus Bird the Younger, pursued his own acting career during the Restoration era.
House of Stuart
The House of Stuart is a European royal house. Founded by Robert II of Scotland, the Stewarts first became monarchs of the Kingdom of Scotland during the late 14th century, and subsequently held the position of the Kings of Great Britain and Ireland...
era of English Renaissance theatre
English Renaissance theatre
English Renaissance theatre, also known as early modern English theatre, refers to the theatre of England, largely based in London, which occurred between the Reformation and the closure of the theatres in 1642...
, and ended it in the Restoration
English Restoration
The Restoration of the English monarchy began in 1660 when the English, Scottish and Irish monarchies were all restored under Charles II after the Interregnum that followed the Wars of the Three Kingdoms...
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 English Civil War
English Civil War
The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...
and the Interregnum
English Interregnum
The English Interregnum was the period of parliamentary and military rule by the Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell under the Commonwealth of England after the English Civil War...
.
Beginnings
Theophilus was the son of William Bird, an actor long associated with the theatrical enterprise of Philip HenslowePhilip Henslowe
Philip Henslowe was an Elizabethan theatrical entrepreneur and impresario. Henslowe's modern reputation rests on the survival of his diary, a primary source for information about the theatrical world of Renaissance London...
and active in the years 1597–1622. Theophilus was baptized on December 7, 1608. Both father William and son Theophilus alternatively spelled their family name as Bird or Bourne. The extensive Henslowe papers in the collection of Dulwich College
Dulwich College
Dulwich College is an independent school for boys in Dulwich, southeast London, England. The college was founded in 1619 by Edward Alleyn, a successful Elizabethan actor, with the original purpose of educating 12 poor scholars as the foundation of "God's Gift". It currently has about 1,600 boys,...
contain many mentions of the elder Bird and members of his family. The younger Bird started out as a boy player
Boy player
Boy player is a common term for the adolescent males employed by Medieval and English Renaissance playing companies. Some boy players worked for the mainstream companies and performed the female roles, as women did not perform on the English stage in this period...
acting female roles, as was customary at the time; he played Paulina in Massinger's
Philip Massinger
Philip Massinger was an English dramatist. His finely plotted plays, including A New Way to Pay Old Debts, The City Madam and The Roman Actor, are noted for their satire and realism, and their political and social themes.-Early life:The son of Arthur Massinger or Messenger, he was baptized at St....
The Renegado
The Renegado
The Renegado, or The Gentleman of Venice is a late Jacobean stage play, a tragicomedy written by Philip Massinger and first published in 1630...
for Queen Henrietta's Men
Queen Henrietta's Men
Queen Henrietta's Men was an important playing company or troupe of actors in Caroline era London. At their peak of popularity, Queen Henrietta's Men were the second leading troupe of the day, after only the King's Men.-Beginnings:...
in 1625
1625 in literature
The year 1625 in literature involved some significant events.-Events:*January 1 - The King's Men act Henry IV, Part 1 at Whitehall Palace....
. He played Tota, the Queen of Fez, in Thomas Heywood
Thomas Heywood
Thomas Heywood was a prominent English playwright, actor, and author whose peak period of activity falls between late Elizabethan and early Jacobean theatre.-Early years:...
's The Fair Maid of the West, Part 2
The Fair Maid of the West
The Fair Maid of the West, or a Girl Worth Gold, Parts 1 and 2 is a work of English Renaissance drama, a two-part play written by Thomas Heywood that was first published in 1631.-Date:...
around 1630, when he was 21 years old.
Maturity
Like most boy actors, Bird moved on the adult roles, like Masinissa in the company's 16351635 in literature
The year 1635 in literature involved some significant events.-Events:*February 22 - In Paris, the Académie française is founded.*May 6 - The King's Men perform Othello at the Blackfriars Theatre.*Birth of René Descartes' daughter, Francine....
production of Thomas Nabbes
Thomas Nabbes
Thomas Nabbes was an English dramatist.He was born in humble circumstances in Worcestershire, and educated at Exeter College, Oxford in 1621...
's Hannibal and Scipio
Hannibal and Scipio
Hannibal and Scipio is a Caroline era stage play, a classical tragedy written by Thomas Nabbes. The play was first performed in 1635 by Queen Henrietta's Men, and was first published in 1637...
.
Bird married Anne Beeston, the eldest daughter of Christopher Beeston
Christopher Beeston
Christopher Beeston was a successful actor and a powerful theatrical impresario in early 17th century London. He was associated with a number of playwrights, particularly Thomas Heywood.-Early life:...
, the leading theatrical impressario 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 bubonic plague
Bubonic plague
Plague is a deadly infectious disease that is caused by the enterobacteria Yersinia pestis, named after the French-Swiss bacteriologist Alexandre Yersin. Primarily carried by rodents and spread to humans via fleas, the disease is notorious throughout history, due to the unrivaled scale of death...
and Queen Henrietta's Men left Beeston's Cockpit Theatre
Cockpit Theatre
The Cockpit was a theatre in London, operating from 1616 to around 1665. It was the first theatre to be located near Drury Lane. After damage in 1617, it was christened The Phoenix....
for the rival Salisbury Court Theatre
Salisbury Court Theatre
The Salisbury Court Theatre was a theatre in 17th-century London. It was located in the neighbourhood of Salisbury Court, which was formerly the London residence of the Bishops of Salisbury. Salibury Court was acquired by Richard Sackville in 1564; when Thomas Sackville was created Earl of Dorset...
, Bird remained with his father-in-law and helped him to establish and run the new company known as Beeston's Boys
Beeston's Boys
Beeston's Boys was the popular and colloquial name of The King and Queen's Young Company, a troupe of boy actors of the Caroline period, active mainly in the years 1637–1642.-Origin:...
. Once Beeston died in 1638, his enterprise was taken over by his son William Beeston
William Beeston
William Beeston was a 17th century actor and theatre manager, the son and successor to the more famous Christopher Beeston.-Early phase:...
— but the younger Beeston was unable to maintain his father's level of success.
Bird moved to the King's Men
King's Men (playing company)
The King's Men was the company of actors to which William Shakespeare belonged through most of his career. Formerly known as The Lord Chamberlain's Men during the reign of Queen Elizabeth, it became The King's Men in 1603 when King James ascended the throne and became the company's patron.The...
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 Puritan
Puritan
The Puritans were a significant grouping of English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries. Puritanism in this sense was founded by some Marian exiles from the clergy shortly after the accession of Elizabeth I of England in 1558, as an activist movement within the Church of England...
opposition, to pursue theatrical activities in London. On March 25 of 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 St Giles in the Fields
St Giles in the Fields
St Giles in the Fields, Holborn, is a church in the London Borough of Camden, in the West End. It is close to the Centre Point office tower and the Tottenham Court Road tube station. The church is part of the Diocese of London within the Church of England...
at the time. The records of that parish list the burials of two of Bird's children in 1638 and 1642.)
Bird was made a Groom of the Chamber
Groom of the Chamber
Groom of the Chamber and Groom of the Privy Chamber were positions in the Royal Household of the English monarchy, the latter considerably more elevated. Other Ancien Régime royal establishments in Europe had comparable officers, often with similar titles...
on January 22, 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 first Beaumont and Fletcher folio
Beaumont and Fletcher folios
The Beaumont and Fletcher folios were two large folio collections of the stage plays of John Fletcher and his collaborators. The first was issued in 1647, and the second in 1679. The two collections were important in preserving many works of English Renaissance drama.-The first folio, 1647:The 1647...
of 1647
1647 in literature
The year 1647 in literature involved some significant events.-Events:* Thomas Hobbes becomes tutor to the future Charles II of England.* Plagiarist Robert Baron publishes his Deorum Dona, a masque, and Gripus and Hegio, a pastoral, which draw heavily on the poems of Edmund Waller and John Webster's...
(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).
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 The Lady's Trial
The Lady's Trial
The Lady's Trial is a Caroline era stage play, a comedy by John Ford. Published in 1639, it was the last of Ford's plays to appear in print, and apparently the final work of Ford's dramatic career....
(1639
1639 in literature
The year 1639 in literature involved some significant events.-Events:*May 21 - The King's Men act John Fletcher's The Mad Lover.*Blaise Pascal's family move to Rouen.*François de La Mothe-Le-Vayer is elected to the Académie Française....
), The Sun's Darling
The Sun's Darling
The Sun's Darling is a masque, or masque-like play, written by John Ford and Thomas Dekker, and first published in 1656.The Sun's Darling was licensed for performance by Sir Henry Herbert, the Master of the Revels, on March 3, 1624...
(1656
1656 in literature
The year 1656 in literature involved some significant events.-Events:*September - performance of The Siege of Rhodes, Part I by Sir William Davenant, the "first English opera"* November 12 - John Milton marries Katherine Woodcock....
), and The Witch of Edmonton
The Witch of Edmonton
The Witch of Edmonton is an English Jacobean play, written by William Rowley, Thomas Dekker and John Ford in 1621.The play—"probably the most sophisticated treatment of domestic tragedy in the whole of Elizabethan-Jacobean drama"—is based on supposedly real-life events that took place...
(1658
1658 in literature
The year 1658 in literature involved some significant events.-Events:* Molière arrives in Paris to act at the Louvre.* Edward Phillips continues the Chronicle of the Kings of England from the Time of the Romans' Government unto the Death of King James to this date.-New books:* Sir Thomas Browne -...
), works of John Ford
John Ford (dramatist)
John Ford was an English Jacobean and Caroline playwright and poet born in Ilsington in Devon in 1586.-Life and work:...
and collaborators.
Later years
Bird resumed his acting career once the theatres re-opened in 1660. He was one of the fifteen men — Thomas KilligrewThomas Killigrew
Thomas Killigrew was an English dramatist and theatre manager. He was a witty, dissolute figure at the court of King Charles II of England.-Life and work:...
, Sir Robert Howard
Robert Howard (playwright)
Sir Robert Howard was an English playwright and politician, born to Thomas Howard, 1st Earl of Berkshire and his wife Elizabeth.-Life:...
, and thirteen actors — who signed the January 28, 1661
1661 in literature
The year 1661 in literature involved some significant events.-Events:* The Book of Kells is presented to Trinity College, Dublin.* Controversial author James Harrington is arrested on a charge of conspiracy....
agreement that defined the sharers in the King's Company
King's Company
The King's Company was one of two enterprises granted the rights to mount theatrical productions in London at the start of the English Restoration. It existed from 1660 to 1682.-History:...
. In September 1662
1662 in literature
The year 1662 in literature involved some significant events.-Events:*September 29 - Samuel Pepys sees the King's Company production of A Midsummer Night's Dream...
, he reportedly broke his leg while fencing onstage, during a performance of Sir John Suckling's
John Suckling (poet)
Sir John Suckling was an English poet and one prominent figure among those renowned for careless gaiety, wit, and all the accomplishments of a Cavalier poet; and also the inventor of the card game Cribbage...
play Aglaura
Aglaura (play)
Aglaura is a late Caroline era stage play, written by Sir John Suckling. Several aspects of the play have led critics to treat it as a key development and a marker of the final decadent phase of English Renaissance drama.-Performance:...
. He resumed stage work after his recovery, and played Prospero in Richard Rhodes's comedy Flora's Vagaries on November 3, 1663
1663 in literature
The year 1663 in literature involved some significant events.-Events:*February - The Académie des inscriptions et belles-lettres is founded in Paris....
.
Bird's son, Theophilus Bird the Younger, pursued his own acting career during the Restoration era.