| Chapter 1: | Royalist Dramatist |
|
|
He was able to have his work assessed and accepted by the most established company in London as well as learn from others who were having their work shown on the stage.
By 1639, Davenant had had some ten plays plus four court masques produced, was the laureate, and clearly felt he was very experienced in theatre. He petitioned the king for licence to build his own theatre and was granted permission to build near Fleet Street. It was an ambitious project of “forty yards square”, which would have been more than twice the area of the Fortune Theatre, and included provision for music and musical entertainments as well as scenes and plays from which it is believed he meant to put on plays with scenery unlike the other public theatres. He also had permission to assemble a company, and a complaint by Heton, the manager of Salisbury Court, indicates that he began recruiting for it. He was supported by Endymion Porter as his patron, who wrote to secure the final sealing of the patent, saying he would pay the fees for it. However, it seems that someone of more influence was blocking the project, and it was ended by the following September when Davenant signed an indenture which placed such restrictions on his patent that made it impossible to continue. Nevertheless, after the Restoration, the privileges in the patent were enough to ensure his management of the Duke’s Company at Lincoln’s Inn Fields theatre. 42
What this discussion demonstrates is that in just ten years from when he wrote his first play, Davenant had become not only a prolific and apparently successful dramatist but also a well-established and popular courtier, a favourite with his peers as well as with both the king and queen, but this was all to change.
Towards War
On 4 January 1642, the king attempted to arrest the five members of Parliament. On 6 January 1642, the King’s Men played at court for the last time. Sir Henry Herbert records that