(English Comedians)
This name accrued to several English theater troupes that journeyed from London to Germany. The first arrived in Dresden about 1586 and sought protection and endorsement from the Saxon court. Other troupes from England followed, petitioning rulers in Kassel, Braunschweig, and Halle. They also toured the countryside, doing plays by Elizabethan playwrights, including William Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe. By 1592 some English troupes began to recruit German performers, following the practice of casting boys in female roles. By about 1604 many of the troupes began to perform in German-language adaptations of Elizabethan plays. Rival German troupes began to form in competition with the originals, expanding the repertoire to include adaptations of French and Italian plays. Many scholars date their formation as the beginning of German professional theater.