Richard Hathwaye (fl. 1597–1603), was an English dramatist.

Life

Little is known about Hathwaye's life. There is no evidence that he was related to his namesake Richard Hathaway, the father of Shakespeare's wife, Anne Hathaway, though Richard's theatrical troupe "the Admiral's Men" was sponsored by Admiral Charles Howard, the son in law of Sir Henry Carey, Lord Chamberlain of England, the sponsor of William Shakespeare's theatrical troupe the Lord Chamberlain's Men. Hathwaye is not heard of after 1603 and died in 1604 and is buried at St Botolph's Aldgate, London.

Career as a dramatist

Information on Hathwaye's dramatic career is derived mostly from the papers of Philip Henslowe. He wrote eighteen plays for Henslowe for production by the Admiral's Men and Worcester's Men at the Rose Theater, both as sole author and in partnership with other playwrights who also produced copy for Henslowe. The first of these, King Arthur (1597), is the only play for which he received sole credit. He had likely already been writing for the stage for some time, however, since Francis Meres refers to him as if he was a veteran dramatist in 1598, including him among those "best for comedy." Hathwaye also wrote commendatory verses for John Bodenham's Belvedere, published in 1600. Aside from his Belvedere verses all of Hathwaye's works are lost except for the first part of the collaborative Sir John Oldcastle, commissioned as a counterblast to the negative depiction of the title character in the original versions of William Shakespeare's plays Henry IV (Part 1) and Henry IV (Part 2). Objections from descendants of the historical John Oldcastle, a Protestant martyr, appears to have been responsible both for the writing of the corrective Oldcastle play and the alteration of Oldcastle to Sir John Falstaff in later versions of the Henry IV plays.

Known works

Known plays by Hathwaye, either singly or in conjunction with others, include: For the Admiral's Men, 1598-1602: For Worcester's Men, 1602-1603: For the Admiral's Men, 1603: