Puritan backlash in Exeter

Playing companies such as Shakespeare’s were becoming unpopular in parts of the country, such as Devon, as the increasingly puritanical authorities began to turn them away – to pay them not to perform.

Theatre was generally regarded by the Puritans as being immoral, indecent and extravagant and it’s a tension which was to rise until finally, in 1642, Parliament suppressed all stage plays, leading in 1648 to an order for all playhouses to be pulled down. Although the orders could not be strictly enforced – it meant theatres were practically closed from 1642 until the restoration in 1660.

We see evidence of this around Shakespeare’s time in various parts of Devon. In Barnstaple, where other troupes such as Queen Anne’s Men and the Prince’s players made more regular visits during the first two decades of the 17th century, yet by 1617 the civic authorities became increasingly hostile to players as puritan sympathies grew locally.

The picturesque harbour town of Dartmouth on the main south coast road from Exeter to Plymouth attracted two visits in the same year by the touring company of the King’s Men.

On 21 October 1633 they were handsomely rewarded with £1, and the same again when they returned on 5 June 1634. There survives no other evidence of their travels in the south-west during this period, though they must have made other stops along their way.

Both Exeter and Plymouth simply dismissed players without noting down their identity at this time. On the 28th of June 1634, the Exeter Receiver merely recorded the following: ‘Item paid mr Maior ffor soe much hee gaue the players to send them out of towne…[£] 002.’

Could this have been the King’s Men? A similar entry was recorded at Plymouth the same year.

Although Shakespeare had died many years before, some of his plays are known to have remained in the company’s repertory, notably Richard III and The Taming of the Shrew (revived at court in November 1633, soon after their gig at Dartmouth).

The mid-15th century church of St Saviour’s had been acquired for use by the town in 1586 and was a possible performance venue for players, as it had definitely been used by Leicester’s Men in 1570. The church has undergone numerous alterations over the centuries, from the 15th to the 20th but it retains some remarkable early features -- a handsome late 15th c. rood screen, still in the original position, an ornate and colourful Elizabethan altar and an Elizabethan oak pulpit. By 1633 the south porch had been built, the tower raised, the north and south aisles rebuilt and a gallery added at the west end of the nave. St Saviour’s is still the principal parish church of Dartmouth.

The King’s Men are recorded to have visited the wealthy cathedral city of Exeter only once, in May 1618, when they were not welcomed but dismissed outright, though the payment of £2 4s to leave may still have been considered worth the trip.

An illustration of Robert Armin, from The King's Men. Credit: British Library Board

Martin Slater was an interesting and enterprising character who was not always what he professed to be

Perhaps it would have been politically tricky to drum the royal troupe out of town without generous payment?

The lead player was named by the Exeter accounting clerk to be Martin Slater, an interesting and enterprising character who was not always what he professed to be. Slater (or Slaughter) had been previously an actor with the Admiral's Men, 1594-97; the Earl of Hertford's Men in 1603; and then most consistently with Queen Anne's Revels company (1608-25).

He was only briefly manager of the King's Revels troupe at Whitefriars Theatre in London in 1608 so his claim to represent The King’s Men in 1618 must be considered highly suspect. In fact he tried using a forged license for The King’s Men again seven years later at Leicester, where £1 was paid on 15 October 1625 ‘to one Slator and his Companie being the Kinges Playors.’

Slater was not the only player in the period bold enough to acquire a copy of a company’s license with intent to recruit some fellow adventurers to tour the provinces, posing as a recognized professional troupe to reap their rewards. The Lord Chamberlain, recognizing the abuse, sent an order to all provincial officials in 1616 to put a stop to the practice, naming Slater among others as follows:

‘wheras Thomas Swynaerton and Martin Slaughter beinge two of the Queens Maiestes Company of playors hauinge separated themselues from their said Company, haue each of them taken forth a severall exemplification or duplicate of his Maiestes Letters patentes graunted to the whole Company and by vertue therof they severally in two Companies wth vagabondes and such like idle persons, haue and doe vse and exercise the quallitie of playinge in diuerse places of this Realme to the great abuse and wronge of his Maiestes Subiectes in generall and contrary to the true intent and meaninge of his Maiestie to the said Company… wherefore to the end such idle persons may not be suffered to continewe in this Course of life