Killigrew, Thomas
Killigrew, Thomas (1612–81),actor, dramatist, and manager. A strong supporter of the Royalist cause, at the Restoration he was awarded one of the two royal patents giving exclusive rights to form an acting company and build a theatre. In choosing a group of actors who had been active before the Civil War, acquiring the rights to plays performed by the old King's Company pre-1642, and in the bare staging style he adopted at his first venue, the Tennis Court in Vere Street, he was less successful than his forward-looking rival William Davenant. In 1663 his King's Company moved to the new Theatre Royal (rebuilt by Sir Christopher Wren after a fire in 1672). Despite having exclusive rights to perform 20 Shakespeare plays, in the period to 1682, when it was joined by the Duke's Company, it produced only four: Othello, 1 Henry IV, The Merry Wives of Windsor, and Julius Caesar.
Catherine Alexander
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