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John Thompson (died December 1634) was a noted boy player acting women's roles in English Renaissance theatre. He served in the King's Men, the acting troupe formerly of William Shakespeare and Richard Burbage.〔Andrew Gurr, ''The Shakespeare Company 1594–1642'', Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2004; p. 244.〕 Thompson's career is notable for his length. Some boy actors, like John Honyman and Stephen Hammerton, filled female roles for only three to five years before switching to male roles; others, like Richard Sharpe, appear to have continued in women's roles for a decade. Thompson is known to have played women for at least ten years, if not more. ==Beginnings== Thompson began as an apprentice of veteran comedian and teacher John Shank. In 1636, Shank claimed in legal testimony to have spent £40 to acquire Thompson as an apprentice. (Apprentices' contracts were sometimes purchased from their "masters," as with the case of Stephen Hammerton.) According to the cast list in the 1623 first edition of Webster's ''The Duchess of Malfi'', Thompson played Julia, the "Cardinals Mis." This is Thompson's earliest known part. The cast list refers to two separate productions, the original of c. 1614 and a revival of c. 1621. When different actors played a role in the two stagings, the list identifies them: the parts of Ferdinand, the Cardinal, and Antonio were filled by different actors in the two productions.〔F. E. Halliday, ''A Shakespeare Companion 1564–1964'', Baltimore, Penguin, 1964; p. 144.〕 The cast list gives the role of the Cardinal's mistress Julia to Thompson in both productions; but this has been greeted with skepticism by some commentators, who think Thompson played the role only in the revival of c. 1621.〔Colin Gibson, ed., ''Six Renaissance Tragedies,'' New York, St. Martin's Press, 1997; p. 243.〕 C. 1614 is an early date for the start of Thompson's career, but it is not impossible, and no evidence contradicts the idea. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「John Thompson (actor)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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