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“The Actors are Come Hither”: Literary Analogues of Itinerant Player Troupe Procedures

Hundreds of itinerant players under civic, ecclesiastical, and aristocratic patronage were criss-crossing England from at least 1426, when Henry VI rewarded a troupe of the Duke of Exeter's boys playing interludes, to the closing of the public theatres in 1642. Public and private financial accounts mark the passage of such troupes, but rarely provide any information about them beyond what year they appeared and who acted as their patron. We know that the players existed and that they travelled, but we know virtually nothing about the day-to-day lives of the touring players, about their touring strategies and methods. How many plays were in a typical repertoire, ready to be performed for any audience? How did players gain admittance to performing spaces, and how were they received? Who was responsible for the administrative details governing rewards, bed and board, and production procedures? Who decided what, where, and why the players performed, and what kind of reception could players expect? No extant primary source document addresses any of these questions.