Richard Burbage and the Shakespearean Stage

Name: Richard Burbage and the Shakespearean Stage
Price: 150 AUD
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ISBN: 9781350245969

A 'Delightful Proteus'

Dr. Siobhan Keenan (De Montfort University, UK)

$150

Hardback

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English

The Arden Shakespeare
21 August 2025

Theatre Studies; Individual actors & performers

Shortlisted for the STR Theatre Book Prize 2026

The first in-depth study of the career of Shakespearean ‘star’ actor and theatrical impresario, Richard Burbage.

This book draws on new archival research to offer the first comprehensive study of Burbage’s brilliant theatrical career and his ground-breaking contribution to the development of professional theatre as co-founder and owner of the Globe Theatre and a co-owner and manager of the Second Blackfriars Theatre. Richard Burbage is best known for becoming the leading actor in Shakespeare’s acting company, the Lord Chamberlain’s (later, the King’s) players, and as the man for whom Shakespeare created some of his most memorable leading roles, including Hamlet, Othello and King Lear. He was one of the first ‘star’ actors whose reputation came to transcend the roles he performed and who played a pivotal part in the success of London’s theatre in Shakespeare’s day.

Siobhan Keenan begins by tracing Burbage’s early life in Shoreditch, and the emergent theatrical community of which he was a part, before moving on to explore his growing reputation as a player and theatre manager, first as a member of the newly-formed Lord Chamberlain’s Players (1594), through to his establishment as one of the leading actors of his era as chief player with the King’s Men and co-owner of the Globe and Blackfriars Theatres.

Burbage’s influence on the era’s leading professional playwrights, including, most notably, Shakespeare, but also contemporaries such as Ben Jonson and John Webster, is examined alongside an assessment of his wider impact on early modern acting traditions and his cultural legacy as a Shakespearean star actor and early theatrical entrepreneur.

By: Dr. Siobhan Keenan (De Montfort University UK)
Imprint: The Arden Shakespeare
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 218mm, Width: 144mm, Spine: 20mm
Weight: 476g
ISBN: 9781350245969
ISBN 10: 1350245968
Pages: 272
Publication Date: 21 August 2025
Audience: College/higher education , Primary
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

List of Illustrations Abbreviations and Note on the Text Acknowledgements Prologue: The Burbages & Life in St Stephen’s, Coleman Street Act 1. Theatrical Beginnings Act 2. Leading the Lord Chamberlain’s Men (1594-98)? Act 3. Stealing the Stage: Building & Playing the Globe (1599-1608) Act 4. Two playhouses ‘alike in dignity’: Playing and Managing the Globe and the Second Blackfriars Theatre (1609-1619) Act 5. Burbage’s Legacy Notes Bibliography Index

Siobhan Keenan is Professor of Shakespeare and Renaissance Literature at De Montfort University, Leicester, UK, where she is also Associate Dean Research and Innovation for the Arts, Design and Humanities Faculty.

Reviews for Richard Burbage and the Shakespearean Stage: A 'Delightful Proteus'

With an abundance of rich detail from the period, Keenan does more than merely shift the spotlight from Shakespeare to his leading actor. Along the way to telling the story of the significant impact of Richard Burbage and his family on the Elizabethan and Jacobean stage, Keenan also invites us regularly to stop and look around, setting the scene and filling Burbage’s world with the players, playhouse and partners that made this a golden age for theatre. * Laurie Johnson, University of Southern Queensland, Australia * Richly detailed and thoroughly researched. * The Times Literary Supplement *