Charles+Hart

Charles Hart (1625-1683)  Hart played Horner in The Country Wife

Charles Hart was a British Restoration actor of the mid to late 1600’s. He was baptized on December 11, 1625 in the parish of St. Giles Cripplegate in London, according to the //Oxford Dictionary of National Biography// (ODNB). He was the son of William Hart, and there exists a famous rumor that he was the grandson of Shakespeare’s sister Joan Hart, although there is no strong evidence of this. Hart retired in 1682 after the merging of the King’s Company and the Duke’s Company due to poor health. He then died on August 18, 1683 of kidney failure.


 * Early Life **

Hart started his career as a boy player for Shakespeare’s play company, The King’s Men. A boy player is an adolescent man employed by performance companies to perform the female roles of plays, as there was a law against women acting during this period of history, or just the roles of young men. He was the apprentice of Richard Robinson, another Restoration actor who was also a member of The King’s Men (Kathman, ODNB). He performed in James Shirley’s The Cardinal when he was 15 years old.

In 1642, theaters closed and civil war broke out in England, Hart became a lieutenant of horse under Sir Thomas Dallison in Prince Rupert’s regiment (Kathman, ODNB).


 * Exile and Imprisonment **

Hart soon returned to acting and joined a company of other English actors who went into exile and performed in The Hague in 1644 and for Prince Charles in 1646 in Paris (Kathman, ODNB). In 1647, the company returned in London and in 1648 Hart and his follow actors attempted to restart the King’s Men Company. Five days later, at the very start of 1649, British authorities raided London theaters and arrested actors, Hart among them, in the middle of their performances, still in costume, for violating the ban of theatrical performance. These actors were sent into exile again for the next decade (Kathman, ODNB).

Hart began to act again openly in 1659.


 * Nell Gwyn **

 Image from http://www.historic-uk.com/

Charles Hart was the lover of Nelly Gwyn, an actress and also the long-time mistress of King Charles II. She began working as an orange girl at the Bridges Street Theatre in 1663 when she was 13 (BDA, 148). Not long after that, she became an actress and acted in several roles alongside Hart.

Samuel Pepys, an English naval administrator and Member of Parliament, became famous for the detailed diary he kept during the Restoration Period. He wrote about the contemporary court, theatre, his household, and political and social occurrences. He wrote a diary entry about Hart and Gwyn after seeing All Mistaken on December 28, 1667 saying that, “...Nell's and Hart's mad parts are most excellently done, but especially her's.” (BDA, 148)

The two broke up with 1667.


 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">Professional Career **

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">The Biographical Dictionary of Actors, Actresses, Musicians, Dancers, Managers & Other Stage Personnel in London (BDA) and the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography together offer a rough timeline of the performances and roles in which Charles Hart acted during his time in the theatre.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Hart's time as an actor began to slow when he started taking on other roles within the theatre, such as ownership of a company.
 * Role || **<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Performance ** || **<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Date ** ||
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Brutus || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Julius Caesar || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Unknown ||
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Demetrius || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">The Humorous Lieutenant || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Unknown ||
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Michael Perez || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Rule a Wife and Have a Wife || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Unknown ||
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Otto || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Rollo Duke of Normandy || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Unknown ||
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Marc Antony || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">All for Love || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Unknown ||
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Porphyrius || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Tyrannick Love || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Unkown ||
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Aurange Zebe || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Aurang-zebe || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Unknown ||
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Celadon || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">The Maiden Queen || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Unknown ||
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Aurelian || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">The Assignation || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Unknown ||
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Horner || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">The Country Wife || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Unknown ||
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Manly || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">The Plain Dealer || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Unknown ||
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Phraartes || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">The Destruction of Jerusalem || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Unknown ||
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Massinissa || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Sophonisba, Hannibal’s Overthrow || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Unknown ||
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Alexander the Great || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">The Rival Queens || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Unknown ||
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Ziphares || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Mythridates, King of Pontus || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Unknown ||
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> Unknown || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Euterpe Restored || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Unknown ||
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Almanzor || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Conquest of Granada || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Unknown ||
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Euphrasia/Bellario || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Philaster || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Unknown ||
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Prince of England || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">The Royall King || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Unknown ||
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Ranger || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Love in a Wood || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Unknown ||
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Palamede || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Marriage à la Mode || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Unknown ||
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Massanissa || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Sophonisba || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Unknown ||
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Valentinian || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Lucina’s Rape || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Unknown ||
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Caesario || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Gloriana || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Unknown ||
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Ziphanes || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Mithridates || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Unknown ||
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Monsieur Thomas || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Trick for Trick || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Unknown ||
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Duchess || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">The Cardinal || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">1641 and again in 1662 ||
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Amintor || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">The Maid’s Tragedy || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">1659 ||
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Florez || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">The Beggar’s Bush || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">1659-1660 ||
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Dorant || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">The Liar || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">1660-1661 ||
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Prince || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Erminia || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">1660-1661 ||
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Unknown || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Wit Without Money || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">1660 ||
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Unknown || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">The Traitor || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">1660 ||
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Mosca || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Volpone || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">1663 ||
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Cortez || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">The Indian Emperour || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">1663 ||
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Jolly || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">The Cheats || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">1663 ||
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Fernando/Ferentes || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Love’s Sacrifice || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">1663 ||
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Duke || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Siege of urbin || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">1663 ||
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Gonsalvo || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">The Rival Ladies || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">1663 ||
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Montezuma || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">The Indian Queen || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">1663 ||
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Unknown || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Catiline || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">1667 ||
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Cassio || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Othello || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">1669 ||
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Hotspur || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Henry IV, Part 1 || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">1672 ||
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Arbaces || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">A King and No King || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">1672 ||
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Welford || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">The Scornful Lady || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">1672 ||
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Don John || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">The Chances || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">1672 ||
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Wildblood || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">An Evening’s Love || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">1672 ||
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Lord Delawre || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">The Black Prince || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">1672 ||
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Rollo || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">The Bloody Brother || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">1672 ||
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Valerio || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Damoiselles à la Mode || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">1672 ||
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Celdon || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Secret Love || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">1672 ||
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Forecast || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">The Mulberry Garden || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">1672 ||
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Philidor || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">All Mistaken || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">1672 ||
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Philaster || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Philaster || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">1672 ||
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Armusia || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">The Island Princess || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">1672 ||
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Aurelian || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">The Assignation || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">1672 ||
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Captain Towerson || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Amboyna || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">1672 ||
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Almerin || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Brennoralt || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">1673-1675 ||

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">In January 1672, the scenery and costumes of the King’s Company where destroyed when the Bridges Street theatre caught on fire. King’s Company then moved to the Lincoln’s Inn Fields Theatre, which their rival company, Dukes’ Company, had just abandoned. Soon, King’s Company went about building their own theatre, which opened on March 26, 1674 (Kathman, ODNB).

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Management soon became an issue of King’s Company and Hart was appointed co-manager of King’s Company after the Killigrew family left in September of 1676. Hart also then became sole manager but this was not successful and in February of 1677, Charles Killigrew came back into the company and took charge.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">King’s Company was becoming overshadowed by Duke’s Company’s popularity and issues ensued within the company as well. At this time, Hart became more invested in the finances of the company and didn’t take on many acting roles.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">In October of 1681, Hart sold King’s Company to Duke’s Company and the companies merged together. After the merging was complete, Hart retired.


 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">Reviews & Discussions **

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 80%;">Flecknoe <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Throughout Hart's time as an actor he maintained a reputation as one of the “finest” actors in the King's Company. He mostly played roles such as kings and princes and those that required a "dignified presence" (Kathman, ODNB). A scholarly article by James A. Winn discusses how Hart took “the leading roles in all…heroic plays”. The article continues discussion about the music used in the performances. Winn describes how the composer Dryden used rhyme, assonance, alliteration, and tempo in order to write a song specialized for Hart and his leading roles. Another scholarly article by Riki Miyoshi also confirmed this stating, “Charles Hart…specialized in portraying princes and kings.” Miyoshi discusses how actors, “did not simply act their parts. They often developed their own typecast or ‘lines’ as they were known.” This means that the actors were able to fully embody the roles that they took on: “Actors’ lines were, moreover, closely associated with the actor’s own real characters.” Miyoshi even mentions Nell Gwyn by saying she, “often played the coquettish type.” Hart’s roles and Gwyn’s roles, “link…between the actors and their lines become almost inseparable,” meaning that the lines run deeper than just the characters these actors once portrayed.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">The critics of Hart's plays also noted him as a “capable” comedian (Kathman, ODNB). John Downes wrote this on one of the roles Hart played, showing strong capability in the tragic genre of theatre as well: "if he Acted in any one of these but once in a Fortnight, the House was fill'd as at a New Play, especially Alexander, he Acting that with such Grandeur and Agreeable Majesty, That one of the Court was pleas'd to Honour him with this Commendation; That Hart might Teach any King on Earth how to Comport himself." (Downes, 16)

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">An elegy from Hart's death by an anonymous author praises his acting and lists some of his most noteworthy roles:

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 80%;">1683

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">But despite Hart’s usually well-received style of acting and Pepys’ earlier positive review of his role in All Mistaken with Nell Gwyn, Hart did not receive a stellar review in Pepys’ diary after seeing Othello in February of 1669.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Charles Hart was also sometimes described as the rival of actor Thomas Betterton, who acted for the Duke’s Company. In later years, at a rehearsal of //The Rival Queens//, in which Hart had played Alexander in earlier years, Betterton, displeased with one of his own line readings in the part, asked if anyone in the cast could remember how Hart had spoken the line. "At last, one of the lowest of the company repeated the line exactly in Hart's key. Betterton thanked him heartily, and put a piece of money in his hand as a reward for so acceptable a service." (BDA, 153)


 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">How He Might've Acted **

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Unfortunately, no photographs of Charles Hart exist so it is even harder to imagine what Hart's style of acting may have been like. But the information derived from scholarly articles by Riki Miyoshi and James A. Winn and ODNB allows us to understand that he most often took roles as characters with power such as kings and princes. In this case he might've acted acting in a very strong and profound way. He would have lots of practice acting in a style in which he must be commanding and powerful so his approach to his characters would be authoritative and dominating.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Additionally, many critics of Hart's plays widely praised his acting in tragic roles so he must've also been able to channel great emotion in his stylings when taking upon such a role.

**<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">Works Cited ** <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">An Elegy on That Worthy and Famous Actor, Mr. Charles Hart : Who Departed This Life Thursday, August the 18th, 1683.London: Printed by Nath. Thomp..., 1683. Web.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Downes, John, fl. 1661-1719. Roscius Anglicanus: Or, An Historical Review of the Stage From 1660 to 1706. London: J.W. Jarvis & son, 1886.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Flecknoe, Richard. Euterpe Revived, or, Epigrams Made at Several Times in the Years 1672, 1673, & 1674 on Persons of the Greatest Honour and Quality : Most of Them Now Living : In III Books.London: Are to be sold by the Booksellers of London and Westminster, 1675. Web.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Highfill, Philip H., Kalman A. Burnim, and Edward A. Langhans. A Biographical Dictionary Of Actors, Actresses, Musicians, Dancers, Managers & Other Stage Personnel In London, 1660-1800. Carbondale, Ill: Southern Illinois University Press, 1982. eBook Collection (EBSCOhost). Web. 2 Nov. 2016.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Kathman, David. “Hart, Charles (bap. 1625, d. 1683).” David KathmanOxford Dictionary of National Biography. Ed. H. C. G. Matthew and Brian Harrison. Oxford: OUP, 2004. Online ed. Ed. David Cannadine. Jan. 2008. 2 Nov. 2016

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Miyoshi, R. "Samuel Sandford and Colley Cibber: Two Players’ Acting Techniques and the Rise and Fall of Restoration Villain Tragedy on the London Stage from the 1670s to the 1730s." Theatre Notebook, vol. 68 no. 3, 2014, pp. 136-152. Project MUSE, muse.jhu.edu/article/587399.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Rymer, Thomas, and Thomas, 1641-1713. The Tragedies of the Last Age Consider'd and Examin'd by the Practice of the Ancients and by the Common Sense of All Ages in a Letter to Fleetwood Shepheard, Esq. / by Thomas Rymer, of Grays-Inn, Esq.London :: Printed for Richard Ton..., uuuu. Web.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Van Lennep, William. The London Stage, 1660-1800 : A Calendar of Plays, Entertainments & Afterpieces, Together with Casts, Box-Receipts and Contemporary Comment.Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1965. Print.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Winn, J. A. "Heroic Song: A Proposal for a Revised History of English Theater and Opera, 1656- 1711." Eighteenth-Century Studies, vol. 30 no. 2, 1996, pp. 113-137. Project MUSE, doi:10.1353/ecs.1997.0007.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">Lexie Andreassi