ABSTRACT
April 27 / May 2, 1710
THE ACTOR THOMAS BETTERTON PLAYED the titular role of King Lear in Nahum Tate’s adaptation of Shakespeare’s play just months before he died and was buried in Westminster Abbey, on May 2, 1710, the first actor to be honored in this way. Betterton was well known for his dignified, if somewhat static, acting style and powerful voice. In addition to acting, he unofficially took up much of the work of managing the Duke’s Company with the death of William Davenant in 1668; after the Duke’s and the King’s companies became the United Company, conditions for theatrical professionals worsened under poor management until Betterton, along with many of his fellow actors, founded a new company in Lincoln’s Inn Fields in 1695. Married to Mary Saunders, a fellow actor, Betterton had a reputation for respectability that was unusual for actors in the Restoration, and he was entrusted by the King and court with the work of building and improving the institution of British theatre. It is not an exaggeration to say that Betterton was the “face” of English theatre from the Restoration until his death. Nonetheless, like other actors, he was occasionally the object of scurrilous attacks like the one we see in “Satyr on the Players,” and he struggled financially, especially towards the end of his life when age and disability curtailed his earning ability. He acted up until three days before his death.
