by the court of Charles I. In William Davenant's Salmacida Spolia (1640), the last of the court masques before the Civil War, Queen Henrietta Maria (who was pregnant at the time) makes her entrance "descending by a theatrical device from a cloud." As early as 1639, Davenant had obtained a royal patent authorizing the construction of a large new public theatre with technology that would allow such effects and accommodate music, scenery, and dancing. Such an invasion of court-drama technique in the public theatre met opposition from "legitimate" dramatists, and war closed down the theatres in 1642. The public stage ban from 1642–60 imposed by the Puritan regime represented a long and sharp break in dramatic tradition but was never completely successful in suppressing the theatre industry. Performances in grand private houses were not unusual and could have elaborate sets, as can be seen from the extant drawings for the original performance of Davenant's opera The Siege of Rhodes at his home Rutland House. Davenant charged 5 shillings for admission. Some professional actors managed to evade the authorities in stealth acting companies in London, such as that of Michael Mohun at the Red Bull Theatre. By the later 1650s, the restoration of the monarchy was imminent, and playwrights such as William Davenant, began to resume their theatrical activities. 1660s: Company competition William Davenant, impresario When the public performance ban was lifted after the Restoration of the monarchy in 1660, Charles II immediately encouraged the drama and took a personal interest in the scramble for acting licenses and performance rights which followed. Two pre-Commonwealth playwrights, Thomas Killigrew and William Davenant, notable for their loyalty during Charles' exile emerged with a royal Letters Patent for new, or refurbished, patent theatre companies. Killigrew was able to take over Michael Mohun's skilled veteran troupe for his "King's Company" and began with "what was essentially a going concern" (Hume) , with the added advantage of the traditional performance rights Mohun brought with him for practically the whole classic repertory of William Shakespeare, Ben Jonson, and the Beaumont and Fletcher team. The competition, Davenant's "Duke's Company", was relegated to a secondary position due to its young, scratched-together troupe and scarcely any performance rights. They were only allowed to put on abridged and modernized versions of Shakespeare plays, and a few that Davenant had written. However, Davenant, "a brilliant impresario", was soon able to turn the tables