Richard Perkins

Richard Perkins (c. 1579/c. 1585–1650) was a prominent early seventeenth-century actor, most famous for his performance in the role of Barabas in Christopher Marlowe's The Jew of Malta. At the peak of his career in the 1630s, many contemporaries judged Perkins to be the premier tragedian of his generation. Early life Nothing is known about the early life of Perkins, and the year of his birth has been estimated at 1579 or 1585. His professional career had begun by 1602, when he was a member of Worcester's Men; he remained with that company throughout its next incarnation as Queen Anne's Men, 1603–1619. With the death of Anne of Denmark in 1619, the troupe lost its name and patron, but continued in its theatre, and was known as the Red Bull company or the Revels company. After a relatively brief stint with the King's Men, 1623–1625, Perkins became a founding member of the new Queen Henrietta's Men in 1625. Perkins remained with that company until the theatres were closed at the start of the English Civil War in 1642, and became their leading man and star. Career Perkins achieved his greatest fame as Barabas in the company's 1633 revival of The Jew of Malta. He was also involved in most of the troupe's productions during its 1625–42 lifetime, including Heywood's The Fair Maid of the West (he played Mr. Goodlack), Shirley's The Wedding (playing Sir John Belfare) and The Lady of Pleasure (Sir Thomas Bornwell), Davenport's King John and Matilda (Fitzwater), Nabbes's Hannibal and Scipio (Hanno), and Ford's Love's Sacrifice (Duke Caraffa). It was through such plays and roles that Perkins achieved his reputation as "a versatile, self-possessed and graceful actor whose skills would have been well-suited to a private theatre such as the Phoenix." His range of roles included "romantic villain, dignified father, honest plain-spoken old man."