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Poetry Library

— Stephen Crane

I stood upon a high place,

And saw, below, many devils

Running, leaping,

And carousing in sin.

…

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noun

A person whose profession is acting on the stage, in films, or on television.

“The lead actor delivered a powerful performance that moved the entire audience to tears.”

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RISE AND PROGRESS OF THE STAGE. XIX

40 lines
Ben Jonson·1572–1637
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nd two of them, Betterton and Kynaston, had beenhis apprentices. About the same time the few per-formers who had belonged to the old companies as-sembled, and began to act at the Red Bull, in SaintJohn’s Street; and from the eagerness with which twopatents were soon afterwards obtained from the crown,it may be presumed that they met with a considerableshare of success. Sir William Davenant, before thecivil wars broke out, had been favoured with a patentby Charles I.; qnd therefore his claim to a new onewas warranted, as well by his former possession, as byhis services and sufferings in the royal cause. Theother candidate was Thomas Killegrevv, Esa. a per-son who had rendered himself acceptable to nis sove-reign, as much by his vices and follies, as by his witor attachment to him in his distress. The actors who had been employed by Rhodes weresoon afterwards taken under the protection of Sir Wil-liam Davenant ; and the remains of the old companieswere received by Mr. Killegrew : all of them weresworn by the Lord Chamberlain as servants of thecrown; the former being styled the Duke of York’scompany, and the latter that of the king. The king’s company, after their removal from theRed Bull, performed in a new-built house situated inGibbon’s Tennis Court, near Clare-raarket. But thistheatre being not well adapted for the use to which itwas appropriated, they were obliged to erect a moreconvenient one in Drury-Lane. This latter wasfinished and opened on the 8th of April, 1062, withBeaumont and Ffctcher’s comedy of The HumorousLieutenant , which was acted 12 nights successively. During these removals of the king’s company, theirjrivals belonging to the Duke of York were shiftingjheir places of performance, and were some time be-fore they were wholly settled. From the Cockpit theywent to a new theatre built in Lincoln’s Inn Fields,which was opened in the spring of the year 1 662 , afierseveral of their plays had been rehearsed at Apothe-caries Hall. But this playhouse was likewise soon
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