Richard Sharpe (c. 1602 [?] – January 1632) was an actor with the King's Men , the leading theatre troupe of its time and the company of William Shakespeare and Richard Burbage . Sharpe began his career as a boy player acting female roles, then switched to male roles in his young adulthood.
9-726: Richard Sharpe may refer to: Richard Sharpe (actor) (died 1632), English actor Richard Sharpe (scientist) (born 1947), scientist and expert in fertility and reproduction Richard Sharpe (historian) (1954–2020), history professor at the University of Oxford Richard Sharpe (died 1557), one of the Marian martyrs Richard Sharpe (soccer) (born 1967), English football (soccer) player Richard Bowdler Sharpe (1847–1909), English zoologist Richard Sharpe (MP) , Member of Parliament for Grantham in 1554 Richard Sharpe, British ice dancer in
18-474: The 2008 British Figure Skating Championships Richard Sharpe (fictional character) , the main character in the Sharpe novel series and TV series/movies See also [ edit ] Richard Sharp (disambiguation) Ricky Sharpe (American football) (born 1980), Arena Football League player [REDACTED] Topics referred to by the same term This disambiguation page lists articles about people with
27-511: The King's Men's premiere productions of: — in the 1616–24 era. Sharpe "probably became a sharer in the King's Men in 1624" — that is, a partner in the company rather than a mere hired player. Sharpe then switched from important female roles to important male roles — a transition that some boy players (like Robinson or Stephen Hammerton ) executed more successfully than others (like John Honyman ). Sharpe played Parthenius in
36-695: The company's production of Philip Massinger 's The Roman Actor ( 1626 ), Ferdinand the general in the same author's The Picture ( 1629 ), Lysander in Lodowick Carlell 's The Deserving Favourite (also 1629), Wittworth in John Clavell 's The Soddered Citizen ( 1630 ), and the King of the Lombards in Arthur Wilson 's The Swisser ( 1631 ). Parish records testify to the brief existence of Sharpe's illegitimate son Richard; as
45-510: The dates of both the productions and of Sharpe's birth are not certain). Some commentators blanche at the idea of a 12-year-old boy playing such a prominent woman's role; and some have assigned the part in the first production to the more experienced Richard Robinson , or to Alexander Cooke , the veteran who is thought by some to have originated many Shakespearean heroines. (Cooke, however, died in February 1614, necessitating an earlier date for
54-528: The earliest cast list in English Renaissance drama . The list states that Sharpe originated the title role of the Duchess. The 1623 cast list actually covers two separate productions, the premiere staging and a later revival. The cast list holds that Sharpe played the Duchess in both of these productions; he would have been perhaps 12 years old for the first, and about 19 for the second (though
63-399: The original production.) The subject of boy players in female roles is controversial and long-disputed. A cautious approach would rely on the testimony of the evidentiary record, which assigns the role of the Duchess of Malfi to Sharpe. Sharpe originated other female roles in ensuing years. the cast lists added to the second Beaumont and Fletcher folio of 1679 credit Sharpe with parts in
72-421: The record puts it, he was "base born of the body of Margaret Smith singlewoman...." The infant was christened on 6 September 1631, and buried eleven days later, on 17 September; his mother was a servant. Sharpe's death followed that of his son by four months; he was buried in the parish of St. Anne Blackfriars on 25 January 1632, aged 30. 1679 in literature This article contains information about
81-658: The same name. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Richard_Sharpe&oldid=1181013743 " Category : Human name disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Richard Sharpe (actor) Sharpe's earliest known role was, arguably, both his most significant and his most controversial. The first edition of John Webster 's The Duchess of Malfi , printed in 1623 , contains
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