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Richard Tarlton in his clown's rustic apparel, with pipe and tabor
Richard Tarlton (1530 – September 3, 1588), an English actor, was the most famous clown of his era.

He was born in Condover, Shropshire. Firm information on his early life is scarce; traditions maintain that he started out as either a London apprentice, or a swineherd in Shropshire; and it is not impossible that he was both.[1] At one time he may have been an inn-keeper, but in 1583, when he is mentioned as one of the original member of the Queen's Men, he was already an experienced actor.

He was an early yet extraordinary influence on Elizabethan clowns. His epitaph says: “he of clowns to learn still sought/ But now they learn of him they taught.” Tarlton was the first to study natural fools and simpletons to add knowledge to his characters. His manner of performance combined the styles of the medieval Vice, the professional minstrel, and the amateur Lord of Misrule. During the play, he took it upon himself to police hecklers by delivering a devastating rhyme when necessary. He would spend time after the play in a battle of wits with the audience. He worked with Queen Elizabeth's Men at the Curtain Theatre at the beginning of their career in 1583. The 1600 publication Tarlton’s Jests tells how Tarlton, upon his retirement, recommended Robert Armin take his place.

He was Elizabeth's favorite clown, and his talent for impromptu doggerel on subjects suggested by his audience has given his name to that form of verse. To cash in on his popularity, a great number of songs and witticisms of the day were attributed to him, and after his death the text Tarlton's Jests, containing many jokes in fact older than him, made several volumes. Other books, and several ballads, coupled his name with their titles. Some have suggested that the evocation of Yorick in Hamlet's soliloquy was composed in memory of Tarlton. [2]

In addition to his other talents, Tarlton was a fencing master. He wrote at least one play, The Seven Deadly Sins (1585); though it was enormously popular in its day, no copy has survived. Besides ballads and a play, Tarlton wrote several pamphlets starting in the 1570s, one of which was A True report of this earthquake in London (1580). These were apparently genuine, though after his death a variety of other works were attributed to him as well. Gabriel Harvey refers to him as early as 1579, indicating that Tarlton had already begun to acquire the reputation that rose into fame in later years. That fame transcended the social limits that judged players to be little more than rogues: Sir Philip Sidney was the godfather of one of Tarlton's sons.

Tarlton, according to one source, even played a role in the Martin Marprelate controversy; a contemporary pamphlet writer "claimed that the violence of abuse that was a feature of the controversy began with" Tarlton.[3]

Tarlton lived in Shoreditch and is buried in Shoreditch church, where a modern monument commemorates him and other actors of the Elizabethan period who lived and died in what was London's earliest theatrical district.

Notes

1. ^ Richard Dutton et al., eds., Lancastrian Shakespeare, p. 24.
2. ^ Thomson, Shakespeare's Theatre, "Hamlet and the Actor in Shakespeare's Theatre", pp. 114-141, p. 115-116.
3. ^ Gurr, Shakespearean Stage, p. 174.

References

  • Dutton, Richard, Alison Gail Findlay, and Richard L. Wilson, eds. Lancastrian Shakespeare: Region, Religion, and Patronage. Manchester, Manchester University Press, 2004.
  • Gurr, Andrew. The Shakespearean Stage 1574–1642. Third edition, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1992.
  • Thomson, Peter. Shakespeare's Theatre. London, Methuen, 1992.
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September 3 is the 1st day of the year (2nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 0 days remaining.

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Condover is a village in Shropshire, England. It lies south of the county town of Shrewsbury, in the borough of Shrewsbury and Atcham, and just east of the A49. The Cound Brook flows through the village.
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Shropshire
Motto: “Floreat Salopia” (“May Shropshire flourish”)

Geography
Status Ceremonial & (smaller) Non-metropolitan county
Origin Historic
Region West Midlands
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Queen's Men was an Elizabethan playing company that operated between 1583 and 1595. It was a popular company and its patron was Queen Elizabeth I. Among its actors was the famous clown Richard Tarlton.
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VICE (all caps), standing for VersatIle Commodore Emulator, is an emulator for Commodore's 8-bit computers, running on Amiga, Unix, MS-DOS, Win32, Mac OS X, OS/2, Acorn RISC OS, and BeOS host machines.
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minstrel was a medieval European bard who performed songs whose lyrics told stories about distant places or about (real or imaginary) historical events. Though minstrels created their own tales, often they would memorize and embellish the works of others.
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The Lord of Misrule, known in Scotland as the Abbot of Unreason and in France as the Prince des Sots, was an officer appointed by lot at Christmas to preside over the Feast of Fools.
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Queen Elizabeth's Men was a playing company or troupe of actors in English Renaissance theatre. Formed in 1583 at the express command of Queen Elizabeth, it was the dominant acting company for the rest of the 1580s, as the Admiral's Men and the Lord Chamberlain's Men would be in
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The Curtain Theatre was an Elizabethan playhouse located in Curtain Close, Shoreditch (part of the modern Borough of Hackney), just outside the City of London. It opened in 1577, and continued staging plays until 1622.
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Robert Armin (c. 1563 – 1615) was an English actor, a member of the Lord Chamberlain's Men. He became the leading comedy actor with the troupe associated with William Shakespeare following the departure of Will Kempe around 1600.
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Elizabeth I (7 September 1533 – 24 March 1603) was Queen of England, France (in name only), and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. She is sometimes referred to as The Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess
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Clowns are comic performers, stereotypically characterized by their colored wigs, stylistic makeup, outlandish costumes, and unusually large footwear. Clowning, in its most basic form, can be described as one form of drama without a fourth wall, however there are other types of
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Doggerel describes verse considered of little literary value. The word is derogatory, from Middle English.

Doggerel might have any or all of the following failings:
  • trite, cliche, or overly sentimental
  • forced or imprecise rhymes
  • faulty metre

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Yorick was the deceased court jester whose skull is exhumed by the gravedigger in Act 5, Scene 1, of Shakespeare's Hamlet. The sight of Yorick's skull evokes a monologue from Prince Hamlet on the vile effects of death:


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Hamlet is a tragedy and revenge play by William Shakespeare. It is one of his best-known works, one of the most-quoted writings in the English language[1] and is universally included on lists of the world's greatest books.
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The Seven Deadly Sins was a two-part play written c. 1585, attributed to Richard Tarlton, and most likely premiered by his company, Queen Elizabeth's Men. The play drew upon the medieval tradition of the morality play; though it was very popular in its time, no copy of
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Gabriel Harvey (c. 1545 – 1630) was an English writer.

The eldest son of a ropemaker from Saffron Walden, Essex, he matriculated at Christ's College, Cambridge, in 1566, and in 1570 was elected fellow of Pembroke Hall.
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15th century - 16th century - 17th century
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Sir Philip Sidney (November 30, 1554 – October 17, 1586) became one of the Elizabethan Age's most prominent figures. Famous in his day in England as a poet, courtier and soldier, he remains known as the author of Astrophil and Stella (1581, pub.
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The Marprelate Controversy was a war of pamphlets waged in England and Wales in 1588 and 1589, between a puritan writer who employed the pseudonym Martin Marprelate, and defenders of the Established Church.
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Shoreditch


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Andrew John Gurr (born December 23, 1936) is a contemporary literary scholar who specializes in William Shakespeare and English Renaissance theatre.

Born in Leicester, Gurr was raised in New Zealand, and educated at the University of Auckland and at Cambridge University.
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