Actors - Christopher Beeston

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	Actors - Christopher Beeston

Christopher Beeston (c.1570?–1638) was a successful actor and powerful impresario in early 17th century London. He was associated with a number of playwrights, particularly Thomas Heywood.

Beeston got his start as an actor, and as such worked with the central figures of the theatre scene of the time, appearing in plays by Ben Jonson alongside Richard Burbage and a young William Shakespeare. He was a principal member and manager of the Queen's Men, a company devoted primarily to performing Heywood's plays. After achieving some success at a theatre called the Red Bull, Beeston bought a cockfight ring at Drury Lane and hired Inigo Jones, the best-known theatrical architect and designer of the time, to convert it to a theatre. The new establishment, still called The Cockpit after its former function, opened in 1616. It was destroyed in 1617 by angry patrons of the Red Bull (The Cockpit charged higher prices) and after rebuilding it Beeston dubbed it The Phoenix, though its old name continued to be used informally.

After the death of their patron, Queen Anne, in 1619, the Queen's Men disbanded and Beeston formed a new company called Beeston's Boys, which he managed until his death. In addition to the plays he was personally involved with, Beeston had a major influence on the theatre of the time, through the advanced design of The Cockpit itself, his shrewd fiscal management of the various companies he ran, and his innovations in costume and set design.

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