ABSTRACT
The Ile of Gulls was performed at the Blackfriars Theatre in February 1606 by the Children of the Queen’s Revels, a company (like other boys’ troupes) with a reputation for burlesque and political satire. Sir Edward Hoby reported that all the male parts were ‘acted of two diverse nations’ (English and Scottish obviously, given the contemporary resentment at James I’s Scottish favourites and followers). Basilius may have been played in such a way as to bring out resemblances with James himself. As a result, the company lost the patronage of Queen Anne of Denmark, and several of the older ‘boys’ were imprisoned (see E.K.Chambers, The Elizabethan Stage, 4 vols, Oxford, 1923, vol. 3, p. 286; Andrew Gurr, The Shakespearean Stage 1574-1642, 3rd edn, Cambridge, 1992, p. 53; The Ile of Gulls, ed. R.S.Burns, London, 1980, p. 15).
