^The national qualification is essential. The earliest kabuki performers in Japan in 1603 were women. An Italian actress was reported as early as 1565-6; see Rennert, Spanish Stage, p. 140. Thomas Coryate, in Coryate's Crudities, noted actresses in Venice in 1611; see Halliday, Shakespeare Companion, p. 22. For amateur precedents, see: Tempe Restored;The Shepherd's Paradise.