Getting Dressed as a Shakespearean Boy Player

By the early 17th century, Shakespeare's theatre company was renowned in London and regularly performing for the King. Though it was wasn't illegal for women to act, Shakespeare's company, as was the custom, hired apprentice boys to play their female parts. Plays didn't have expensive theatrical sets, but theatre companies spent a lot of money on costumes, as well as being given second-hand clothes by aristocratic patrons. In this video, our actor, Dylan Lowena, is dressing to play the part of Tatania from Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, one of the plays that we know was performed at here at Hampton Court Palace in 1604. We're joined by HRP's Head of Costume, Erin Charteris, and Director of Education at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, Will Tosh. Thank you to Dylan, Will and ‪@ShakespearesGlobe‬ for working with us on this epsiode. Plan your visit to Hampton Court Palace: https://www.hrp.org.uk/hampton-court-... Image credits: James VI & I (1566-1625) c. 1620, Paul van Somer © Royal Collection Enterprises Ltd 2026 | Royal Collection Trust Anne of Denmark, ca. 1605, Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection Anne of Denmark by John De Critz the Elder oil on canvas, circa 1606-1608 © National Portrait Gallery, London Anne of Denmark (1574-1619) Dated 1614 © Royal Collection Enterprises Ltd 2026 | Royal Collection Trust Henry Stewart, Lord Darnley and his brother Charles Stewart, Earl of Lennox 1563 © Royal Collection Enterprises Ltd 2026 | Royal Collection Trust Performance by the Commedia dell'Arte Company I Comici Gelosi, ca.1590 © Victoria and Albert Museum, London Portrait of a Lady (said to be Elizabeth Throckmorton, d.c.1647, Queen Elizabeth's Maid of Honour and Wife of Sir Walter Raleigh) Image credit: Maldon Town Council Elizabeth I (1533–1603), Marcus Gheeraerts the younger (1561/1562–1635/1636) © Master and Fellows of Trinity College, Cambridge Princess Elizabeth of Brunswick-Wolfenbuttel (1593-1650), later Duchess of Saxe-Altenberg Inscribed 1609 © Royal Collection Enterprises Ltd 2026 | Royal Collection Trust Princess Hedwig of Denmark (1581-1641), Electress of Saxony 1611-1620 © Royal Collection Enterprises Ltd 2026 | Royal Collection Trust The Roaring Girle Or Moll Cut-Purse As it hath lately beene acted on the Fortune-stage by the Prince his Players [In prose and verse] Written by T Middleton and T Dekkar 162.d.35 From the British Library archive John de Critz Woman in Masque Costume as a Power of Juno, Private Collection Costume design for a Lady Masquer, 1610 (pen and ink on paper) © The Devonshire Collections, Chatsworth / Bridgeman Images Lady masquer (w/c on paper) © The Devonshire Collections, Chatsworth / Bridgeman Images Winged masquer (w/c on paper) © The Devonshire Collections, Chatsworth / Bridgeman Images Portrait of a Lady between 1600 and 1615 Nicholas Hilliard, ca. 1547–1619, Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection Dudley North, third Baron North (1581-1666) ca. 1609, Isaac Oliver, Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection