author
Nathaniel Field
b. 1587
A vivid figure of the Jacobean stage, this actor-playwright rose from the boy companies to the King’s Men and earned a reputation as one of the finest performers of his generation. His own plays and collaborations still offer a lively glimpse into the energy of early modern London theater.
1 Audiobook
The Fatal Dowry
by Philip Massinger, Nathaniel Field
About the author
Born in London and baptized in October 1587, Nathan Field grew up in a strikingly theatrical contradiction: his father, the Puritan preacher John Field, strongly opposed the stage. Even so, Field became an actor while still young, performing with the Children of the Queen’s Revels and building a name for himself in the lively world of London theater.
He was admired not only as a performer but also as a writer. Over time he worked with major companies, including Lady Elizabeth’s Men and later the King’s Men, the company closely associated with Shakespeare. He wrote plays of his own, including A Woman Is a Weathercock and Amends for Ladies, and also collaborated on dramas such as The Fatal Dowry.
Field is remembered as one of the notable stage talents of the late Elizabethan and Jacobean period: an actor with a strong contemporary reputation and a playwright whose work captures the wit, fashion, and sharp social comedy of his age. A portrait thought to show him survives, helping give a face to a writer and performer from one of English drama’s most exciting eras.