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So, without wanting to detract from @eoin_price’s gripping early modern drama tournament, today I was supposed to be speaking about Nathan Field at @The_Globe. Here’s why I was excited:
Field (1587-1619/20) gives us a brilliant snapshot into two of the most exciting decades in theatre history. Give or take a few months, he enjoyed a twenty-year acting and writing career. That’s almost as long as the other guy we talk about quite a bit.
And he had a similarly celebrated career in his own time: Jonson names him as a ‘best actor’ along with Richard Burbage in Bartholomew Fair, and he’s the subject of some not very funny jokes in contemporary jest books.
And unlike That Other Guy, Field’s acting career spanned three companies: the Children of the Queen’s Revels (at the Blackfriars 1600-8 and the Whitefriars 1609-13), the Lady Elizabeth’s Men (1613-16), and finally the King’s Men (1616-19/20—depends when he died)
He was certainly a well-connected member of the early modern theatrical community: Jonson described him as his ‘scholar,’ George Chapman as his ‘loved son.’
Thanks to the work of Hilton Kelliher, we know that Field also knew Francis Beaumont personally: the two ran into trouble in Cambridge together in 1604 for trying to duff someone up for Field’s brother, Theophilus (it’s not clear how long Nathan was actually a student there)
While we’re on his family: Field was the son of the vehemently antitheatrical preacher, John Field, who conveniently didn’t live long enough to see his son become an actor. His brother Theophilus became a bishop, and one of his other brothers, Nathaniel, became a printer.
From fairly early in his career, Field was called upon to endorse the work of the eminent playwrights in his network: printed playbooks are often accompanied by his commendatory verses:
Certain copies of Jonson’s Volpone (1607) include a commendatory poem by Field, seemingly written at Jonson’s request.
Field also wrote a commendatory verse for Fletcher’s The Faithful Shepherdess (1610), in which he presumably acted, too, and he offered his commending services again for the 1611 quarto of Jonson’s Catiline’s Conspiracy.
What particularly excites me about Field is what we can discern of the roles he played. We know that after he joined the King’s Men, he played Face in The Alchemist and Voltore in Volpone. He also originated the role of Bussy d’Ambois when he was in his late teens.
A reference in William Cavendish's The Wits suggests he also played Philaster.
Cast lists for Jonson’s plays name him first among the principal players in Cynthia’s Revels, Poetaster, and Epicene.
The 1679 Beaumont and Fletcher folio lists him first among the principal actors of The Coxcomb and The Honest Man’s Fortune, second for The Knight of Malta and The Loyal Subject, third for The Mad Lover, and fifth for The Queen of Corinth…
… And he comes seventeenth in list of the principal actors which preface’s Shakespeare’s first folio (the owner of the copy at the University of Glasgow seems to have heard about his performances rather than seen them).
Field’s known roles, along with others we can guess he played (Truewit in Epicene, for instance) show a quite extraordinary range and often particularly physical virtuosity, combining witty fast-paced dialogue and broad emotional range with physical feats.
This isn’t surprising since before he became a boy actor he was taught by Richard Mulcaster, who was a big fan of PE
And these skills as an actor are in evidence everywhere in Field’s writing: in his solo plays, A Woman is a Weathercock and Amends for Ladies, and in those he wrote in collaboration with Fletcher, or Fletcher and Massinger (or Fletcher and Massinger and Daborne…)
Field’s hand has been located in Four Plays in One, The Honest Man’s Fortune, The Queen of Corinth, The Knight of Malta, and The Fatal Dowry along with (less certainly) The Bloody Brother (FWIW, I think he did contribute to that one).
We also know he collaborated with Fletcher and Massinger on the lost Jeweller of Amsterdam: https://lostplays.folger.edu/Jeweller_of_Amsterdam
Scholars have typically thought of Field as the junior partner in these writing exercises, but there’s no reason to believe he didn’t have a lot to offer to Fletcher and Massinger, too—his range and experience as an actor would have been invaluable to any playwright.
Of these plays, I particularly like Four Plays in One (what it says on the tin, and a brilliant showcase of what the theatre could do in 1613), and The Knight of Malta.
Burbage and Field are named first in the cast list for this play, and it’s fascinating to think of the 31-year-old Field writing for the 51-year-old Burbage as well as acting with him.
It’s likely that Burbage played Mountferrat and Field Miranda (a man, don't get excited), and the play brings them into some wonderfully dramatic face-offs with one another.
We had the privilege of watching @jamesthewallace and Mark Hammersley recreating one of these scenes at @lucycmunro’s brilliant Apology for Actors event last year ( https://wakelet.com/wake/c61fae95-206b-4436-9bac-59457ad888fe).
You can read all about it in @hbachrach and @RomolaNuttall’s write-up https://blogs.kcl.ac.uk/english/2019/07/17/engendering-the-stage-in-london/
But today was supposed to be A Woman is a Weathercock day: Field’s first solo play, a great intertext for Jonson’s Epicene, and very funny and silly. You can’t hear me talk about it for two hours, but why not go and read it?
I’ve been working on a couple of things about Field: one about his movement through the theatre industry, the other about what his skills as an actor bring to his collaborations with Fletcher. The first of these will be out in Shakespeare Survey at the end of the year.
