Virginia Company History & People

Shakespeare's History &
People

Biographies

People Home

Shakespeare's Influence

William Shakespeare is a man we now know.  In the early 17th century, however, Shakespeare was merely one among many playwrights, his works among hundreds of plays, and certainly only one among many noteworthy talents in his own playing company, the King's Men.  While he was a favorite playwright and a central member of his company, Shakespeare would not be Shakespeare without the culture of playgoing in London and the platform his company obtained at the Globe and Blackfriars playhouses.

Shakespeare's Globe Playhouse

Shakespeare began his career as a writer in the late 1580s or early 1590s under the patronage of the Earl of Southampton, but made his name by writing several noteworthy plays based on English history (such as the Henry VI plays).  Shakespeare joined what was then called the Lord Chamberlain's Men in 1594. The Lord Chamberlain, named Henry Carey, was the person responsible for the monarch's (in this case, Queen Elizabeth's) household. The Chamberlain would oversee the monarch's homes and hospitality, coordinate household events and oversee servants. The Lord Chamberlain also managed courtly entertainments. To be the playing company under the Lord Chamberlain's patronage was an enormous privilege and indicates just how influential Shakespeare and his company were even in the early years of the company.

Under the Lord Chamberlain's patronage, the company performed at public playhouses called The Theatre, The Swan and The Curtain.  In 1596, Henry Carey died and his son, George, soon took over his father's office.  Under George Carey's patronage, the company took up residence in their own theater at the Globe playhouse on the south bank of the River Thames.

Lord Chamberlain's Men to King's Men

Meanwhile Shakespeare became a sharer in the company.  Sharers were the few men with exclusive financial stakes in the company and who also served the company as actors.  Shakespeare, the company's playwright, served as an actor as well.

Shakespeare's plays and the Chamberlain's Men superior talent cemented their position as the leading playing company in the late 1590s and early 1600s, such that shortly after Queen Elizabeth's death and James' accession to the throne in 1603, the company came under his patronage.  Shakespeare's company became the King's Men.

The American Shakespeare Center's Blackfriars Playhouse, the world's only reconstruction of Shakespeare's indoor theatre.

With a royal patent, the King's Men broadened their operations in 1608 to a "private," indoor playhouse locatedwithin the city of London itself.  Despite Shakespeare's retirement and death by 1616, the King's Men continued to thrive at both the Globe and Blackfriars for years under new resident playwrights such as John Fletcher and Philip Massinger.  In 1625, King James died and the company came under the patronage of Charles I.  Still the King's Men, the company prospered until 1642 at the outset of the English Civil War and the closure of the theaters by a Puritan parliament.

Key members of the company included:

William Shakespeare
James Burbage
Richard Burbage
John Fletcher
Philip Massinger

Shakespeare and the King's Men, while certainly the country's leading playing company, were not the only show in town. While Shakespeare was the company's leading playwright, freelance playwrights as well as other playing companies worked in London. Playwrights included Ben Jonson, William Rowley, George Wilkins, John Marston, George Chapman, Thomas Heywood, and others who, in some cases, were connected to the same cultural circles as Shakespeare. Jonson, for instance, wrote masques performances for James' court. Many of these playwrights, moreso than Shakespeare, undertook plays that focused on contemporary London life (these plays are called "City" plays). It is no coincidence that as Virginian exploration took hold in the years after 1608, these plays began to incorporate the wave of excitement that rippled through London's streets.