ABSTRACT
The private theatre of Ming China and that of Elizabethan England shared few features, except being professional theatres and having the same name. A Ming private theatre was an individually owned troupe performing to invited guests, while an Elizabethan private theatre was an indoor theatre that opened to the general public for a higher fee. A typical private troupe during the Ming was organized by an owner who bought children from poor families and trained them to perform; they were thus bondservants in legal status. An Elizabethan troupe, on the contrary, comprised free men who invested in or contracted themselves to the theatre company. As a commercial operation, Elizabethan private theatre counted on profitability, while Ming private theatre, a high class pastime, disapproved of financial compensation, even for its most popular or most expensive productions. The Ming taboo had a lasting impact. Li Yu’s (1611-79) troupe’s tours were alleged to solicit sponsorship, despite the fact that he was a director, playwright and critic of national and international fame and his tours did not take place until he was in virtual poverty (Wang H 1713: 2/101-2). Such a code of behaviour in effect demarcated Ming private theatre as a status symbol, not a practical enterprise.
