Nathaniel Field Nathaniel Field ( 1587 - 1620 ) , was an English dramatist and actor ; his father was the Puritan preacher John Field and his brother Theophilus Field became the Bishop of Llandaff . ( Another brother named Nathaniel , who used to be confused with the actor , became a printer . ) Field 's father passionately opposed London 's public entertainments , even delivering a sermon that descried divine judgment in the collapse of the Bear Garden in 1583 . Nathan presumably did not intend a career in the theater ; he was a student of Richard Mulcaster at St . Paul 's School in the late 1590s . At some point before 1600 , he was impressed by Nathaniel Giles , the master of Elizabeth 's choir and one of the managers of the new troupe of boy players at Blackfriars Theatre , called alternately the Children of the Chapel Royal and the Blackfriars Children . He remained in this profession for the remainder of his life , later adding to it the profession of playwright . As a member of the Children of the Queen 's Revels , Field acted in the innovative drama staged at Blackfriars in the first years of the seventeenth century . Cast lists associate him with Ben Jonson 's Cynthia 's Revels 1600 and Poetaster ( 1601 ) ; a 1641 quarto associated him with George Chapman 's Bussy D'Ambois . Later in the decade , he performed in Epicoene and , perhaps , played Humphrey in Francis Beaumont 's The Knight of the Burning Pestle . During the same years , he wrote commendatory verses for Jonson 's Volpone and Catiline , and for John Fletcher 's The Faithful Shepherdess . Field was presumably also among those of the children 's company briefly imprisoned for the official displeasure occasioned by Eastward Hoe and John Day 's The Isle of Gulls ; the latter imprisonment was in Bridewell Prison . Field stayed with a children 's company until 1613 , his twenty-sixth year . He appears to be the only one of the boy actors of 1600 to remain with the Blackfriars troupe when , in 1609 , Philip Rosseter and Robert Keysar assumed control of the company . In this company , he performed in the theater in Whitefriars and , frequently , at court , in plays such as Beaumont and Fletcher 's The Coxcomb . From the latter years of this period come the first of his plays : A Woman is a Weathercock and The Honest Man 's Fortune ( the latter with Fletcher and Philip Massinger . In 1613 , Rosseter combined his company with the Lady Elizabeth 's Men , managed by Philip Henslowe . Performing at the Swan Theatre and Hope Theatre , he acted in Thomas Middleton 's A Chaste Maid in Cheapside and Jonson 's Bartholomew Fair . For the latter play , in which he may have performed as Cokes or Littlewit , he received payment for the company after a performance at court . These years witnessed some degree of tumult ; Henslowe 's business practices resulted in his actors ' drawing up certain `` articles of grievance '' against him , and Rosseter 's attempt to build a new private theater ( Porter 's Hall ) in Blackfriars was blocked by the city and Privy Council . This period ended when Henslowe died , Rosseter abandoned his plans , and Lady Elizabeth 's Men briefly merged and then separated from Prince Charles 's Men , therafter touring in the country . For Field , the period had a presumably more satisfactory end : by late 1616 , he had joined the King 's Men . With the King 's Men , Field seems to have performed as Voltore in Volpone and as Face in The Alchemist . It is not clear what other parts he played ; an epigram , produced by John Payne Collier , that associated the actor with the role of Othello is an apparent forgery . Edmond Malone supposed that Field played women 's roles with the company ; O. J. Campbell , however , suggests that he played young second leads . Of course he acted in a number of Fletcher 's plays , as well as Shakespeare's ; presumably he also acted in his own Amends for Ladies ( printed 1618 , though probably written earlier ) , and in The Fatal Dowry , which he wrote with Massinger . Field died some time between May 1619 and August 1620 . Field had a contemporary reputation as a ladies ' man ; gossip reported by William Trumbull charges him with a child of the Countess of Argyll . Field has appeared as a main character in King of Shadows , a novel by Susan Cooper . Works Field 's two plays as a solo dramatist evince , not surprisingly , the knowledge and interests of an author who had already spent a decade on stage . They are tightly plotted and fast-paced ; intrigues are advanced through a series of comic set-pieces , with abundant opportunities for comedic star-turns . A Woman is a Weathercock follows two pairs of lovers as they attempt , in the conventional manner , to thwart a father 's calculating marriages and marry for love ; the minor characters include a Jonsonian assortment of gulls and cowards . Amends for Ladies presents a triple plot : a love-test derived from the Curious Impertinent of Cervantes ; a widow-hunting story ; and a comic parallel of wooing a maid . Mary Frith is brought on in a minor scene . Throughout both plays , the mark of Jonson is apparent , and the plays in many respects anticipate the Restoration comedy of manners . References Brinkley , Roberta F. Nathan Field , the Actor-Playwright . New Haven , Conn : Yale University Press , 1928 . Nunzeger , Edwin . A Dictionary of Actors and of Other Persons Associated With the Public Presentation of Plays in England Before 1642 . New Haven : Yale University Press , 1929 . This article incorporates public domain text from : Cousin , John William ( 1910 ) . A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature . London , J.M. Dent & sons ; New York , E.P. Dutton . Categories : A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature | 1587 births | 1620 deaths | English Renaissance dramatists 