Cover; Copyright Page; Contents; Acknowledgements; A Note on Sources; Introduction Professional Children's Acting Companies in London, circa 1600; 1 The Clifton Star Chamber Case and the Recruitment of Boys for the Blackfriars Company: Choristers vs. Actors; 2 Grammar School Skills Transferable to the Blackfriars Stage: The Influence of Rhetoric and Oration; 3 The Portrayal of Female Characters by Members of the Boys' Companies; 4 Age Transvestism and the Playing of Adult Male Roles by Children
5 The Exchange of Play Texts Between Adult and Child Companies: Their Use of the Induction and Prologue6 Play Text Exchanges between Child Companies and Amateur Adult Companies: The Work of William Percy; Conclusion The Place of the Child Actor in Society; Notes; Bibliography; Index; About Sussex Academic Press
Summary
"A legal document dated 1600, for a Star Chamber case titled Clifton vs. Robinson, details how boys were abducted from London streets and forcibly held in order to train them as actors for the Blackfriars theatre. No adults were seen on-stage in this theatre, which was stocked solely by acting boys, resulting in a satirical and scurrilous method of play presentation. Were the boys specifically targeted for skills they may have possessed which would have been applicable to this type of play presentation? And, was this method of 'recruitment' typical or atypical of Elizabethan theatre?"-- Provided by publisher
