On this day in history, 13th March 1619, the stage lost one of its greatest stars. Richard Burbage, Shakespeare’s leading man, the original Hamlet, Othello, and King Lear, breathed his last at the age of fifty.
But Burbage wasn’t just an actor. He was a theatre pioneer, a close friend of Shakespeare, and a man whose talent defined the golden age of English drama.
So, who was he?
Richard Burbage was born in 1568, baptised in London’s St. Stephen’s Church on 7th July. His father, James Burbage, was an actor and entrepreneur, and young Richard grew up surrounded by the world of performance.
In 1576, James Burbage made history by building England’s first permanent playhouse—aptly named The Theatre—just outside London’s city walls in Shoreditch. Little did he know, his son would go on to shape English theatre forever.
By the age of sixteen, Richard was already making a name for himself on the stage. By 1594, he was the star of the prominent theatrical company, Lord Chamberlain’s Men. And this is where fate intervened. Among his fellow players was a certain William Shakespeare, a rising playwright who was crafting roles perfectly suited to Burbage’s talents. The two men became close friends, and in his 1616 will, Shakespeare left bequests to only three actors—his "fellows", as he called them—one of whom was Burbage.
The late 1590s were a transformative time. The Burbages lost The Theatre due to lease disputes, but Richard and his brother Cuthbert had an audacious plan: they dismantled it, transported its timbers across the Thames, and built The Globe in Southwark. And there, under its thatched roof, Burbage gave some of the most legendary performances in theatre history. He was the very first actor to speak Hamlet’s famous soliloquy, “To be or not to be.” He raged as Othello, wept as King Lear, and schemed as Macbeth. He wasn’t just performing Shakespeare’s words—he was shaping the very essence of these characters, bringing them to life for the very first time.
When James I came to the throne in 1603, the Lord Chamberlain’s Men became The King’s Men, earning royal patronage. They performed at court, entertained nobility, and even staged twenty plays for the king between 1612 and 1613—eight of which were written by Shakespeare himself.
But theatre wasn’t without its risks. In 1613, disaster struck when The Globe burned down during a performance of Henry VIII. It was rebuilt, but Burbage’s health began to decline.
On 13th March 1619, the curtain fell on his extraordinary life. Three days later, he was laid to rest in Shoreditch.
The theatre world mourned. An anonymous poet lamented:
No more young Hamlet, old Hieronimo,
Kind Lear, the Grieved Moor... have now forever died.
And playwright Thomas Middleton wrote:
Death interposing Burbage and there staying,
Hath made a visible eclipse of playing.
With Burbage’s passing, an era ended.
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