Boy Player - in Film, Literature and Theatre

In Film, Literature and Theatre

The boy player has been a popular subject in literary, theatrical and cinematic representations of the Elizabethan theatre.

• The film Shakespeare in Love features a boy player (played by Daniel Brocklebank) who performs Juliet in Romeo and Juliet before being ousted by Gwyneth Paltrow's character (who is disguised as a man).
• Nicholas Wright's play Cressida is set in the 1630s and depicts the friendship between an elderly former boy player and the historical boy player Stephen Hammerton.
• The play and film Stage Beauty are about the Restoration boy player Edward Kynaston and the transition to female acting.
• Anthony Burgess's novel about Christopher Marlowe, A Dead Man in Deptford, is narrated by a boy player.
• Tom Stoppard's film of Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead features a scene in which the eponymous duo are briefly convinced of the femininity of a boy player.
• Susan Cooper's novel King of Shadows deals with boy actors including Nathan Field.