author
active 1600 William Kemp
Remembered as one of the great comic performers of Elizabethan theater, this lively entertainer was closely linked with Shakespeare’s early stage world. He is also famous for his account of a morris dance from London to Norwich, a feat that helped secure his place in literary history.
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Kemps Nine Daies Wonder: Performed in a Daunce from London to Norwich
by active 1600 William Kemp
About the author
William Kempe, often called Will Kemp, was an English actor and dancer active in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. He is best known as a celebrated clown of the Elizabethan stage and is widely associated with the original company of players who performed Shakespeare’s early works.
Kempe built his reputation on comic performance, physical humor, and dancing. Sources including Encyclopaedia Britannica and the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust describe him as one of the best-known clowns of his era, and he is especially remembered for the morris dance journey from London to Norwich that he later wrote about in Kemps Nine Daies Wonder.
Because records from the period are incomplete, parts of his life remain uncertain, including some exact dates. Even so, his mix of theatrical fame, popular humor, and self-publicizing energy has made him a memorable figure in the story of early English performance.