WILLIAM D'AVENANT (1606-68) {WS's son/godson? - more on this later} the son of an Oxford vintner was an English playwright, poet and theatre manager. He wrote many masques and plays and King Charles I appointed him to be the Poet Laureate in 1638. In the Civil war that broke out four years later, D'Avenant was a Royalist. He fought for the king and was knighted after the siege of Gloucester in 1643. Later he was captured and imprisoned (1650-52) and while he was a prisoner in the Tower of London he composed his epic Gondibert. He is said to have been released by Cromwell's secretary, John Milton. He repaid the writer of Paradise Lost by helping him out during the Restoration period.
William D'Avenant (before 1630)
After the Restoration in 1660, D'Avenant, together with Thomas Kiiligrew received official permission to form an acting company - the Duke's Men - and also to manage a theatre at Lincoln's Inn Fields. Here, among other plays, they also staged several of Shakespeare's.
D'Avenant had quite an influence on how plays were acted then and his productions of Macbeth, The Tempest, Measure for Measure and Much Ado About Nothing were considered important steps in the development of the theatre. He also put on Two Noble Kinsmen (as The Rivals) a Shakespearean play that has since been lost. He also wrote The Siege of Rhodes in 1656, the first English opera which introduced actresses to the stage.
D'Avenant produced his own first tragedy, Albovine in 1629 and he followed this up with The Cruel Brother and The Just Italian. He also worked with Inigo Jones, an important and influential architect and stage-designer, to co-produce three masques.
The famous and gossipy writer, John Aubrey, (1626-97) recorded that D'Avenant was Shakespeare's natural (i.e. illegitimate) son although other theories state that he was the Bard's godson. Aubrey based this theory (c.1680) on that WS had to pass through Oxford on his journeys back and forth between Stratford-upon-Avon and London and it was in Oxford, D'Avenant was conceived. So far no-one has found any positive proof to back up this theory. Aubrey's theory first appeared in print in 1749.
John Aubrey
D'Avenant is also said to have preserved and transmitted a number of Shakespearean theatrical traditions, especially in connection with the stage direction of production of Hamlet.
On a less pleasant note, D'Avenant contracted syphilis in 1630, a disease which caused him to lose part of his nose. This accounts for the discreet way his nose appears in John Greenhill's best-known portrait of him.
D'Avenant as Poet Laureate (after 1638)
Next time: The Elizabethan theatre.
Comments: Facebook or wsdavidyoung@gmail.com
After the Restoration in 1660, D'Avenant, together with Thomas Kiiligrew received official permission to form an acting company - the Duke's Men - and also to manage a theatre at Lincoln's Inn Fields. Here, among other plays, they also staged several of Shakespeare's.
D'Avenant had quite an influence on how plays were acted then and his productions of Macbeth, The Tempest, Measure for Measure and Much Ado About Nothing were considered important steps in the development of the theatre. He also put on Two Noble Kinsmen (as The Rivals) a Shakespearean play that has since been lost. He also wrote The Siege of Rhodes in 1656, the first English opera which introduced actresses to the stage.
D'Avenant produced his own first tragedy, Albovine in 1629 and he followed this up with The Cruel Brother and The Just Italian. He also worked with Inigo Jones, an important and influential architect and stage-designer, to co-produce three masques.
The famous and gossipy writer, John Aubrey, (1626-97) recorded that D'Avenant was Shakespeare's natural (i.e. illegitimate) son although other theories state that he was the Bard's godson. Aubrey based this theory (c.1680) on that WS had to pass through Oxford on his journeys back and forth between Stratford-upon-Avon and London and it was in Oxford, D'Avenant was conceived. So far no-one has found any positive proof to back up this theory. Aubrey's theory first appeared in print in 1749.
D'Avenant is also said to have preserved and transmitted a number of Shakespearean theatrical traditions, especially in connection with the stage direction of production of Hamlet.
On a less pleasant note, D'Avenant contracted syphilis in 1630, a disease which caused him to lose part of his nose. This accounts for the discreet way his nose appears in John Greenhill's best-known portrait of him.
Next time: The Elizabethan theatre.
Comments: Facebook or wsdavidyoung@gmail.com
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