For the period from 1642 to 1659, Mohun was an officer in military units loyal to the House of Stuart; he served in England, Ireland, and the Low Countries, and rose to the rank of major. He was seriously wounded at Dublin, and was a prisoner of war for two extended periods.[2]
At the end of the English Interregnum, Mohun was one of the men —George Jolly and John Rhodes were others — who attempted to restart dramatic performance. In 1659 Mohun performed with other pre-Commonwealth actors in an unlicensed troupe at the Red Bull Theatre. As the manager of the troupe, Mohun came to an agreement with the Master of the Revels to pay fees for the privilege of performing; but eventually, like Jolly and Rhodes, he was out-manoeuvred by Thomas Killigrew and Sir William Davenant. After a complex power struggle for the two company patents issued by Charles II at the Restoration of the monarchy, Mohun became a full sharer in Killigrew's King's Company. Along with Charles Hart, the other leading male actor, Mohun was in a position of some authority, often signing official papers on behalf of the sharing actors. He remained a member of the King's Company until he left the stage on account of age and ill-health in the late 1670s.
Mohun regularly acted leading and major roles, mostly villains. His interpretations of Iago and of the title role in Ben Jonson's Volpone were famous, and he brought a sinister edge to the part of Pinchwife in William Wycherley's The Country Wife. Mohun repeatedly seconded Charles Hart's leads, playing Iago to Hart's Othello, and Cassius to Hart's Brutus.
Mohun compiled a long list of noteworthy other roles in his career.[3] He played Bellamente in Shirley'sLove's Cruelty both before 1642 and after 1660, and he acted in other revivals besides those named above. He played:
Mohun retired from the stage in 1682, when the King's Company joined with the Duke's Company to form the United Company. He had trouble obtaining his pension; his petition to King Charles II on the subject is valuable for the amount of autobiographical material it contains.[4]
Notes
↑ Deborah C. Payne, "Patronage and the Dramatic Marketplace Under Charles I and II," in Brown, p. 166.
Astington, John H. "Actors and the Court After 1642." Early Modern Literary Studies, Speciall Issue 15 (August 2007).
Brown, Charles Cedric, ed. Patronage, Politics, and Literary Traditions in England, 1558–1658. Detroit, Wayne State University Press, 1993.
Highfill, Philip Jr, Burnim, Kalman A., and Langhans, Edward (1973–93). Biographical Dictionary of Actors, Actresses, Musicians, Dancers, Managers and Other Stage Personnel in London, 1660–1800. 16 volumes. Carbondale, Illinois: Southern Illinois University Press.
Nunzeger, Edwin. A Dictionary of Actors and of Other Persons Associated with the Public Representation of Plays in England Before 1642. New Haven, Yale University Press, 1929.
Thomson, Peter. The Cambridge Introduction to English Theatre, 1660–1900. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2006.
Thomas Killigrew was an English dramatist and theatre manager. He was a witty, dissolute figure at the court of King Charles II of England.
Charles Hart was a prominent British Restoration actor.
The King's Company was one of two enterprises granted the rights to mount theatrical productions in London, after the London theatre closure had been lifted at the start of the English Restoration. It existed from 1660 to 1682, when it merged with the Duke's Company to form the United Company.
The Cockpit was a theatre in London, operating from 1616 to around 1665. It was the first theatre to be located near Drury Lane. After damage in 1617, it was named The Phoenix.
Lisle's Tennis Court was a building off Portugal Street in Lincoln's Inn Fields in London. Originally built as a real tennis court, it was used as a playhouse during two periods, 1661–1674 and 1695–1705. During the early period, the theatre was called Lincoln's Inn Fields Playhouse, also known as The Duke's Playhouse, The New Theatre or The Opera. The building was demolished and replaced by a purpose-built theatre for a third period, 1714–1728. The tennis court theatre was the first public playhouse in London to feature the moveable scenery that would become a standard feature of Restoration theatres.
Gibbon's Tennis Court was a building off Vere Street and Clare Market, near Lincoln's Inn Fields in London, England. Originally built as a real tennis court, it was used as a playhouse from 1660 to 1663, shortly after the English Restoration. As a theatre, it has been variously called the "Theatre Royal, Vere Street", the "Vere Street Theatre", or simply "The Theatre". It was the first permanent home for Thomas Killigrew's King's Company and was the stage for some of the earliest appearances by professional actresses.
William Hart was an English actor during the reign of Charles I and purportedly the father of the Restoration actor Charles Hart.
Queen Henrietta's Men was an important playing company or troupe of actors in Caroline era in London. At their peak of popularity, Queen Henrietta's Men were the second leading troupe of the day, after only the King's Men.
The Duke's Company was a theatre company chartered by King Charles II at the start of the Restoration era, 1660. Sir William Davenant was manager of the company under Prince James, Duke of York's patronage. During this period, theatres began to flourish again after being closed due to restrictions throughout the English Civil War and Interregnum. The Duke's Company existed from 1660 until 1682 when it merged with the King's Company to form the United Company.
Hugh Clark was a prominent English actor of the Caroline era. He worked in both of the main theatre companies of his time, Queen Henrietta's Men and the King's Men.
William Allen was a prominent English actor in the Caroline era. He belonged to both of the most important theatre companies of his generation, Queen Henrietta's Men and the King's Men.
Walter Clun was a noted English actor of the seventeenth century. His career spanned the difficult period when the theatres were closed during the English Civil War and the Interregnum, from 1642 to 1660.
Nicholas Burt, or Birt or Burght among other variants, was a prominent English actor of the seventeenth century. In a long career, he was perhaps best known as the first actor to play the role of Othello in the Restoration era.
Robert Shatterell was an English actor of the seventeenth century. He was one of the limited group of actors who began their careers in the final period of English Renaissance theatre, and resumed stage work in the Restoration, after the long theatre closure of the English Civil War and the Interregnum, 1642–1660. [See: Richard Baxter; Nicholas Burt; Walter Clun; Charles Hart; Michael Mohun; William Wintershall.]
William Wintershall, also Wintersall or Wintersell, was a noted seventeenth-century English actor. His career spanned the difficult years of mid-century, when English theatres were closed from 1642 to 1660, during the English Civil War and the Interregnum.
Alexander Gough, also Goughe or Goffe, was an English actor in the Caroline era. He started out as a boy player filling female roles; during the period of the English Civil War and the Interregnum (1642–1660) when the theatres were closed and actors out of work, Gough became involved in the publication of plays.
William Cartwright was an English actor of the seventeenth century, whose career spanned the Caroline era to the Restoration. He is sometimes known as William Cartwright, Junior or William Cartwright the younger to distinguish him from his father, another William Cartwright, an actor of the previous generation.
Katherine Corey was an English actress of the Restoration era, one of the first generation of female performers to appear on the public stage in Britain. Corey played with the King's Company and the United Company, and had one of the longest careers of any actress in her generation. In "The humble petition of Katherine Corey", she stated that she "was the first and is the last of all the actresses that were constituted by King Charles the Second at His Restauration."
John Sumner was an English theatre actor during the Caroline era (1625–1642).
Marmaduke Watson was an English stage actor of the seventeenth century. Part of the King's Company based at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, he was one of the actors who sided with Charles Killigrew during a dispute in the company in 1677. In 1682 when the United Company was formed he left and went to Dublin to join the Smock Alley Theatre. He later returned to London where his final known performances were with Thomas Betterton's company at the Lincoln's Inn Fields Theatre.
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