- William Wintershall
William Wintershall (died
July 1679), also Wintersall or Wintersell, was a noted seventeenth-century English actor. [Edwin Nunzeger, "A Dictionary of Actors and of Others Associated with the Representation of Plays in England Before 1642", New Haven, Yale University Press, 1929; pp. 398-99.] His career spanned the difficult years of mid-century, when English theatres were closed from 1642 to 1660, during theEnglish Civil War and the Interregnum.According to James Wright's "
Historia Histrionica " (1699), Wintershall's career began in the final years of the period ofEnglish Renaissance theatre ; he was likely a young member ofQueen Henrietta's Men at theSalisbury Court Theatre in the 1637–42 years. During the theatre closure, 1642–60, Wintershall was one of the English actors who performed in Europe, mainly inThe Hague andParis , in the middle 1640s. [Judith Milhous and Robert D. Hume, "New Light on English Acting Companies in 1646, 1648, and 1660," "Review of English Studies", New Series, Vol. 42 No. 168 (November 1991), pp. 487-509; see p. 490.] Wintershall became involved in a lawsuit with fellow actorAndrew Cane in 1654. The suit involved a thirty-year-old debt of £40, betweenRichard Gunnell , builder of the Salisbury Court Theatre, and his actors, including Cane; Wintershall had married Gunnell's daughter Margaret in 1641 or 1642, so becoming involved in the dispute. (The outcome of the suit is not known). [Leslie Hotson, "The Commonwealth and Restoration Stage", Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press, 1928; pp. 52-3.] In 1659 Wintershall and a Henry Eaton paid a bond for a court appearance byAnthony Turner , who was in legal trouble for violating the prohibition against acting. (If Wintershall had been in Queen Henrietta's Men, Turner was a former colleague.)Wintershall's stage career experienced a resurgence with the Restoration; he was one of the thirteen actors who were the original "sharers" (partners) in the
King's Company under the management ofThomas Killigrew . Wintershall played a wide range of roles with the troupe, including:* King Henry in Shakespeare's "Henry IV" plays
* Master Slender in "The Merry Wives of Windsor "
* Octavius Caesar in "Julius Caesar"
* Cokes in Jonson's "Bartholomew Fair "
* Subtle in "The Alchemist"
* Sir Amorous La Foole in "Epicene"
* the King in Fletcher's "The Humorous Lieutenant "
* Gobrias inBeaumont and Fletcher 's "A King and No King "
* the King in "The Maid's Tragedy "
* Sir Gervase Simple in Shirley's "Love in a Maze "
* Don Alonzo in Dryden's "An Evening's Love "
* Arimant in "Aureng-zebe "
* Polydamas in "Marriage A-la-Mode "
* Odmar in "The Indian Emperour "
* Bomilcar in Lee's "Sophonisba, or Hannibal's Overthrow "
* King John of France in Boyle's "The Black Prince".The notes to Buckingham's play "
The Rehearsal " (1671; printed 1672) describe Wintershall as "a most judicious actor, and the best instructor of others."John Downes , in his "Roscius Anglicanus" (1708), called Wintershall "good in Tragedy, as well as in Comedy...."References
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