Joseph Taylor (17th-century actor)

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Joseph Taylor (d. November 4, 1652) was a 17th-century actor. As the successor of Richard Burbage with the King's Men, he was arguably the most important actor in the later Jacobean and the Caroline eras.

Taylor started as a child actor with the Children of the Chapel in the first decade of the centuy; as he matured he remained in the profession, with Prince Charles's Men and the Lady Elizabeth's Men. With them, he developed into an important leading man.

Richard Burbage died in March 1619; Taylor joined the King's Men the next month, and over the coming years he acted all the major roles of the Shakespearean canon. He was also famous for the roles of Paris in The Roman Actor by Philip Massinger, Ferdinand in The Duchess of Malfi (John Webster), and Mosca in Volpone, Face in The Alchemist, and Truewit in Epicene (all by Ben Jonson).

Taylor and John Lowin became leaders of the King's Men after the deaths of Henry Condell (1627) and John Heminges (1630). At the same time (1630), Taylor gained a share in the Blackfriars Theatre, and two shares in the Globe. And he was one of the King's Men who signed the dedication of the first Beaumont and Fletcher folio of 1647.

In 1652 a special publication of John Fletcher's The Wild Goose Chase was issued, the proceeds of which went to Taylor and John Lowin to relieve their financial need. Taylor and Lowin had played the roles of Belleur and Mirabel in the King's Men's production of the play, c. 1621–4. The Wild Goose Chase had been lost and was left out of the first Beaumont and Fletcher folio, then rediscovered and published.

In the 25 cast lists that were added to the second Beaumont and Fletcher folio of 1679, Taylor is mentioned 18 times:

The Coxcomb The Custom of the Country The Double Marriage The False One The Honest Man's Fortune The Humorous Lieutenant The Island Princess The Laws of Candy The Little French Lawyer

The Lovers' Progress The Maid in the Mill The Pilgrim The Prophetess The Sea Voyage The Spanish Curate The Wild Goose Chase A Wife for a Month Women Pleased

His total is second only to Lowin's 21. The lists for The Coxcomb and The Humorous Lieutenant refer to the companies to which Taylor belonged prior to the King's Men; the other 16 refer to the latter company. On 11 of the lists, Taylor is mentioned first, an index of his standing as the company's leading player. (For comparison, Burbage is on seven of the lists, always in first place.)

[edit] References

• Dodsley, Robert, et al. A Supplement to Dodsley's Old Plays: In Four Volumes. London, The Shakespeare Society, 1853.
• Halliday, F. E. A Shakespeare Companion 1564–1964. Baltimore, Penguin, 1964.