BURBAGE, JAMES (d. 1597)

This article appears in Volume V04, Page 809 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: BUN-CAL

BURBAGE, JAMES (d. 1597) , English actor, is said to have been born at Stratford-on-Avon. He was a member of the

earl

EARL

of Leicester's players, probably for several years before he is first mentioned (1574) as being at the head of the company. In 1576, having secured the lease of land at Shoreditch,

Burbage

BURBAGE, JAMES (d. 1597)

erected there the successful

house

HOUSE
HOUSE (O. Eng. hiss, a word common to Teutonic languages, cf. Dut. huis, Ger. Haus; in
Gothic
- GOTHIC
it is only found in gudhiss, a temple; it may be ultimately connected with the root of " hide," conceal)

which was known for twenty years as The Theatre from the fact that it was the first ever erected in London. He seems also to have been concerned in the erection of a second theatre in the same locality, the Curtain, and later, in spite of all difficulties and a

great

GREAT

deal of local opposition, he started what became the ' most celebrated

home

of the rising drama,the Blackfriars theatre, built in
1596 near the old Dominican friary.
His son RICHARD

BURBAGE

BURBAGE, JAMES (d. 1597)

(c. 15671619), more celebrated than his father, was the

Garrick

GARRICK,
DAVID
(1717-1779)

of the Elizabethan stage, and acted all the

great

GREAT

parts in Shakespeare's plays. He, too, is said to have been born at Stratford-on-Avon, and made his first

appearance

APPEARANCE (from Lat. apparere, to appear)

at an early age at one of his father's theatres. He had established a reputation by' the time he was twenty, and in the next dozen years was the most popular English actor, the " Roscius " of his day. At the time of his father's death, a lawsuit was in progress against the lessor from whom James Burbage held the land on which The Theatre stood. This suit was continued by Richard and his brother Cuthbert, and in 1569 they pulled down the Shoreditch

house

HOUSE
HOUSE (O. Eng. hiss, a word common to Teutonic languages, cf. Dut. huis, Ger. Haus; in
Gothic
- GOTHIC
it is only found in gudhiss, a temple; it may be ultimately connected with the root of " hide," conceal)

and used the materials to erect the Globe theatre, famous for its connexion with Shakespeare. They occupied it as a summer playhouse, retaining the Blackfriars, which was roofed in, for winter performances. In this venture Richard Burbage had Shakespeare and others
as his partners, and it was in one or the other of these houses that he gained his greatest triumphs, taking the leading part in almost every new play. He was specially famous for his impersonation of Richard III. and other Shakespearian characters, and it was in tragedy that he especially excelled. Every playwright of his day endeavoured to secure his services. He died on the 13th of

March

1619. Richard Burbage was a painter as well as an actor. The Felton portrait of Shakespeare is attributed to him, and there is a portrait of a woman, undoubtedly by him, preserved at Dulwich College.

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