Category:Henry Condell

Henry Condell was a player with the Chamberlain's/King's men by 1597-8, and he was active in the company's leadership throughout his professional life. He acquired shares in the company's playhouses, the Globe and Blackfriars; and his rools suggest that he was cast routinely in significant parts. He was also a man of considerable financial means. His wealth apparently coincided with his marriage to Elizabeth Smart on 24 October 1596. Eccles observes that Elizabeth's "father, Henry Smart of the Strand, gentleman, bequeathed to his only child Elizabeth valuable houses in the Strand just west of Somerset House: his inherited freehold was 'the signe of the Helmet' and leases of other houses in the parish of the Savoy" (p. 44). Condell successfully retained the couple's inheritance, and his will dated 13 December 1627 conveys the stewardship of this wealth. His generosity is evident in the bequests to his two sons and daughter, to friends and business associates, to the poor of the parish, and to his "old servant Elizabeth Wheaton," to whom he leaves "a mourninge gowne and fforty shillinges in money and that place or privilege which she nowe exerciseth and enioyeth in the houses of the Blackfriars London and the Globe on the Backside" (by which he means her position as gatherer; he added a gift of £5 for Wheaton's daughter [Honigmann and Brock, p. 159]).

Condell may be better know for his role in getting the First Folio of Shakespeare's plays published with his partner, John Heminges, than for his theatrical skills.

Roles

• Ferrex ("Envy"), Lord ("Lechery"), "The Second Part of the Seven Deadly Sins" (arguing for the assignment of"The Second Part of the Seven Deadly Sins" to Chamberlain's men c. 1597, Kathman cites a baptismal record "on 5 September 1576 in Norwich" [from "The Family Origins of Henry Condell" by David Honneyman in Notes and Queries 230 (1985) p. 476]).
  
• Actor lists, Every Man in his Humour
  
• Actor lists, Every Man out of his Humor
  
• Mentioned in the Induction, The Malcontent
  
• Mosca, Volpone (Eccles, p. 44, n.38 [citing J. A. Riddell, "Some Actors in Ben Jonson's Plays," Shakespeare Studies 5 (1969): 285-98])
  
• Surly, The Alchemist (Eccles, p. 44, n.38 [citing J. A. Riddell, "Some Actors in Ben Jonson's Plays," Shakespeare Studies 5 (1969): 285-98])

Works Cited