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Thomas Killigrew | |
|---|---|
 Detail from a portrait of Thomas Killigrew byAnthony van Dyck, circa 1635 | |
| Born | (1612-02-07)7 February 1612 England |
| Died | 19 March 1683(1683-03-19) (aged 71) Whitehall, London, England |
| Occupation | Dramatist |
| Nationality | English |
Thomas Killigrew (7 February 1612 – 19 March 1683) was an English dramatist and theatre manager. He was a witty, dissolute figure at the court of KingCharles II of England.
Killigrew was one of twelve children of SirRobert Killigrew of Hanworth, a courtier toJames I, and his wifeMary née Woodhouse; he became a page to KingCharles I at about the age of thirteen. According toSamuel Pepys, the boy Killigrew used to volunteer as an extra, or "devil," at theRed Bull Theatre, so that he could see the plays for free. The young Killigrew had limited formal education; the Court and the playhouse were his schoolroom.
Killigrew was present at theexorcism of the possessed nuns of Loudun. In 1635 he left a sceptical account of the proceedings.[1]
Before theEnglish Civil War, Killigrew wrote several plays—tragicomedies likeClaricilla andThe Prisoners, as well as his most popular play,The Parson's Wedding (1637). The latter play has been criticized for its coarse humour; but it also contains prose readings ofJohn Donne's poetry to pique a literate audience.[2]
ARoyalist andRoman Catholic, Killigrew followed Prince Charles (the futureCharles II) into exile in 1647. In the years 1649–51, he was in Paris,Geneva, andRome, and in the later year was appointed Charles' representative inVenice. (It has been said that Killigrew wrote each of his plays in a different city;Thomaso, or the Wanderer was written inMadrid)
At theRestoration in 1660, Killigrew returned to England along with many other Royalist exiles. Charles rewarded his loyalty by making himGroom of the Bedchamber and Chamberlain to QueenCatherine. He had a reputation as a wit; in his famous Diary,Samuel Pepys wrote that Killigrew had the office of the King's fool and jester, with privilege to mock and revile even the most prominent without penalty
Diary of Samuel Pepys, Thursday, 13 February 1668.
Along with SirWilliam Davenant, he was given a royal warrant to form a theatre company in 1660—which gave Killigrew a key role in the revival of English drama.[3] Killigrew beat Davenant to a debut, atGibbon's Tennis Court inClare Market, with the newKing's Company. Its original members wereMichael Mohun,William Wintershall,Robert Shatterell,William Cartwright,Walter Clun,Charles Hart andNicholas Burt. They played for a time at the oldRed Bull Theatre, but in 1663 the company moved to the newTheatre Royal in Drury Lane. (Unfortunately, Killigrew gained a reputation as an incompetent manager; he was constantly in disputes with his actors and had to bribe his stars to keep working for him.) Killigrew staged plays byAphra Behn,John Dryden,William Wycherley...and Thomas Killigrew, as well as revivals ofBeaumont and Fletcher. Having inherited the rights and repertory of the oldKing's Men, the King's Company performed many ofShakespeare's works, in the rewritten forms that were so popular at the time and so disparaged later. Two Killigrew productions of his ownParson's Wedding, in 1664 and 1672-3, were cast entirely with women.
In 1673, Killigrew was appointedMaster of the Revels. He lost control of his theatre in a conflict with his son Charles in 1677. (Charles, in turn, went bust a year later.) Thomas Killigrew died atWhitehall on 19 March 1683.
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Thomas Killigrew's dramas are:
In 1664,[4]Henry Herringman published a collected edition of Killigrew's dramas, titledComedies and Tragedies (rather inaccurately, since the majority of the plays aretragicomedies). Only his two earliest plays had been printed previously. The collected edition identifies the city in which Killigrew supposedly wrote each play.
The Parson's Wedding andClaricilla were successful stage plays. Of his last three works,Thomaso is a broad comedy based on Killigrew's experiences in European exile, whileBellamira andCicillia are heroic romances—but all three arecloset dramas, ten-act double plays never intended for the stage. Yet oddly enough, Aphra Behn adaptedThomaso for her successfulThe Rover (1677).[5] The tragedyThe Pilgrim, apparently never performed, borrows its plot fromJames Shirley'sThe Politician and reveals many allusions to Shakespeare.
Some critics have consideredThe Parson's Wedding to be aRestoration play written before the Restoration, an anticipation of what was to come—and Killigrew himself as a central figure in the transition fromEnglish Renaissance theatre toRestoration drama.
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He married twice.
1Cecilia Crofts (16?? –1638) in 1636, a maid of honour toQueen Henrietta Maria with a son:
2Charlotte de Hesse (1629 –1716) in 1655; with children:
His second wife and their 3 sons were naturalised in an Act of Parliament in 1683.
Among his 8 siblings known to have survived to adulthood, Thomas had two brothers who also wrote plays:
For the other six, seeRobert Killigrew
