Category:Berkeley's

Patrons and Performances

Henry Berkeley (REED PP), 7th Baron Berkeley, sponsored companies of players as early as 1557 and as late as 1611-12. Several spellings of the family name are associated variously with these players (REED PP): Lord Bartholomew's Players, 1581; Lord Barlett's Players, 1582-1610; and Lord Barlys' Players, 1605. Two sets of entries in provincial records name the company as Lord Berkeley's players: one, in 1584 and 1611-12; and a second in 1557 and essentially continuously from 1577-1609.

Here, the company identified with 39 events by REED is the focus (REED PP). One of the most active and ubiquitous of the provincial companies, and certainly one of the most long-lived in terms of stable patronage, Lord Berkeley's players visited nearly every venue in rural England except East Anglia: Southeast (Dover, Canterbury), Midlands (Coventry), Southwest (Bath, Bristol), Southwest (Lyme Regis, Totnes, Dorcester), West Midlands (Gloucester, Leominster, Ludlow), and Northwest (York). As provincial companies routinely did, the companies played most frequently in civic halls. However in Dorset in 1607, the company performed at the George Inn (REED PP)