Mystery at the Rose Theatre
T he rough and tumble of the Elizabethan theatre has always fascinated John Pilkington. And he brings it to life through the eyes of a boy actor in his series for children.
The second adventure of Ben Button, boy actor with the Lord Bonner’s Players, has just been published. Traitor! follows Rogues’ Gold, the first book in the series, published last year.
“I’m so fascinated by how these big Elizabethan female roles were played by boys,” says John, who lives in Exeter.
“There were no actresses, so all the big parts were played by boys whose voices hadn’t yet broken, including lead roles like Lady Macbeth and Cleopatra.”
Traitor! opens with Lord Bonner’s Men rehearsing at the Rose Theatre, preparing to perform for Queen Elizabeth I at her Christmas revels.
Their plans are foiled when their props store is burnt down and costumes stolen. Then the lead actor is stabbed on stage. Someone, it appears, is trying to stop them
Ben and Matt vow to get to the bottom of the mystery, which they feel sure must involve their rivals the Earl of Horsham’s Men.
John has previously written crime novels for adults, but this is his first foray into children’s fiction – and, at the age of 59, he says is enjoying it.
“It is more fun than writing adult fiction,” he says. “You can let your imagination go.”
While Lord Bonner’s Men is a fictitious company, The Rose was very much a real theatre. It was built in Southwark, known then as Bankside, on the south bank of the Thames in 1587 by businessmen Philip Henslowe and John Cholmley.
The Rose, which has been excavated in recent years, was the first theatre to be built on Bankside, before The Swan and The Globe, establishing it as the Elizabethan theatre district.
Theatregoing in those times was popular entertainment for all, with “the pit” full of jostling, jeering, spitting and swearing audiences. The actors themselves didn’t raise the tone. Rivalry was fierce between theatre companies and differences were often settled with fists or the sword, as they are in Traitor!
John recently discussed the books with young readers at a primary school in Sidmouth, East Devon.
“They are fascinated when you tell them about the great rough circular Elizabethan theatre, and about having to go out at the age of 12 to 14 and make yourself heard on stage, with people fighting and eating and throwing up, and even sitting on the stage,” he says. “It was more like a football stadium than what we’d think of as a theatre.”
(c) 2008 Western Morning News, The Plymouth (UK). Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.