Boy player

The term Boy Actor (also Children Actor) referred to in the practice of the Elizabethan and Jacobean theater, a juvenile male performer of female roles.

From about 1558 to 1642 it was forbidden by law women to engage in professionally as an actress. However, the ban was only for English women. French and Italian theater troops could make their guest appearances with their female members.

Because of this limitation, the professional theater groups, such as Lord Admiral 's Men in young males in the representation of women resorted to. These young people were enrolled as apprentices in the guilds of London, which they loaned to the theater playing at the professional theater companies ( where they also spent most of her teaching).

From this period are known theater companies, which consisted entirely of young actors. The most famous had their origins in the church choirs of St. Paul's and the Chapel Royal. 1576 to 1584 and from 1599 to 1613 these troops were within the city walls of London in private theaters, including the Blackfriars Theatre, a fee on.

Famous Boys' Companies

• Children of St. Paul
• Children of the Chapel

• Role Type
• History of Theatre
• Culture ( England)