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4 unusual facts about John Shank


John Shank

John Shank (also spelled Shanke or Shanks) (died January 1636) was an actor in English Renaissance theatre, a leading comedian in the King's Men during the 1620s and 1630s.

In 1635, Eliard Swanston, Robert Benfield, and Thomas Pollard, three actors in the King's Men who were sharers in the company but not "householders" or shareholders in the theatres, petitioned the Lord Chamberlain — then Philip Herbert, 4th Earl of Pembroke — for the right to purchase shares in the theatres.

Shank may have joined the King's Men as early as 1613; the company was licensed to perform something called Shank's Ordinary, probably a jig, on 16 March 1614.

William Heminges

Heminges sold off his shares from 1630-1634, primarily to John Shank, comedian with the King's Men.



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