Richard Burbage

Richard Burbage was a celebrated English stage actor and theatre entrepreneur.

He lived during the late 16th and early 17th centuries. He is most famous for his work at the Globe Theatre. Burbage was also a close business associate and friend of William Shakespeare. He was known for his ability to slip easily into a character. This skill was vital because theatre was a new form of formal entertainment. Actors at that time could not rely on the audience to believe in the story automatically. Burbage made his performances feel believable to the people watching. He was considered an idol of his age and a massive box office draw.

Burbage possessed incredible range and power as a performer. He excelled in tragedies, which are serious and often sad plays. During the era between 1580 and 1610, very few roles were exceptionally long. There were only about twenty roles in total that exceeded 800 lines. While Edward Alleyn was the first actor to manage such massive parts, Burbage took on the majority of them. In fact, Burbage acted in thirteen of those twenty largest roles. He was the first actor to play the title role in Shakespeare's tragedy, Hamlet. He also played famous characters such as Othello, Macbeth, King Lear, and Romeo.

Burbage's career was deeply connected to his family history. His father, James Burbage, was a joiner and a theatrical impresario. James was a builder who founded one of the first successful permanent playhouses. Growing up in this environment gave Richard a head start in the theatre world. Working with his father may have taught him the basics of painting and color. This knowledge helped him later in life when he worked as a painter. After James died in February 1597, Richard and his brother Cuthbert managed the family's theatre interests. They faced many lawsuits while trying to protect their business.

The Burbage brothers were central to the creation of the Globe Theatre. They held interests in two London theatres, including the Blackfriars Theatre. The Blackfriars was a smaller venue that seated about 700 people. It was often used during the winter months when the open-air Globe was impractical. When they could not reach a new lease for a building called "The Theatre," it was dismantled. In 1599, the beams and posts from The Theatre were moved to the south side of the Thames River. These remnants were reassembled to build the Globe. The Burbage brothers kept half the shares in the new theatre and gave the rest to Shakespeare and the Chamberlain's Men.

Burbage was a man of many responsibilities and roles. He was not just a star actor, but also a primary housekeeper for two playhouses. He was a sharer in the King's Men, which was the name for Shakespeare's company after King James I took the throne in 1603. He also earned money through his work as a painter. While he was successful, he was not as wealthy as his peers. At his death, he left his widow, Winifred, an estate worth more than £300 in land. This was a respectable amount, but it was less than the wealth left by Edward Alleyn or William Shakespeare.

The legacy of Burbage's talent continues to spark academic interest. Some scholars suggest a connection between his life and Shakespeare's writing. There is a theory that the character of Hamlet was partly inspired by the death of Richard's father, James. This theory looks at the timing of James's death compared to the drafts of the play. Additionally, some art historians have debated the origins of famous portraits. It has been argued that the Chandos portrait of Shakespeare might have been painted by Burbage. Others believe that common images used to show Burbage's face might actually be his own self-portraits.

Burbage continued to perform on stage for 35 years without ever retiring. He remained a crowd favorite even as younger actors emerged. He performed with the King's Men until his death in 1619 at the age of 52. His passing caused an outpouring of grief in London. This mourning was so large it threatened to overshadow the official mourning for Anne of Denmark. He was buried at St Leonard's in Shoreditch. His gravestone was famously said to read "Exit Burbage." This phrase is a theatrical term used when an actor leaves the stage. It serves as a fitting final note for a man who defined the stage of his era.