Shakespeare and the Stage / With a Complete List of Theatrical Terms Used by Shakespeare in His Plays and Poems, Arranged in Alphabetical Order, & Explanatory Notes

One of the most successful companies in Shakespeare’s time was that known during the latter years as the Lord Chamberlain’s Servants.

The early history of this company is traced back to a troupe of actors under the patronage of Lord Strange. The first years of its career are practically unknown, beyond a few records of performances in provincial towns, prior to 1589 no reference of any description is known of the company’s appearance on the London stage, nor of a command performance at Court before 1591.

This company comes into greater prominence than others of no less distinction, chiefly on account of Shakespeare being one of the members. In all probability he joined this company after the death of his first patron, the Earl of Leicester, in 1588, when many of the actors of Leicester’s company threw in their lot with the Strange contingent. With the latter he remained, participating in all the varying fortunes of so hazardous an existence and vicissitude until his retirement from the stage.

Unfortunately for future students, this company found no minute chronicler like Henslowe, recording all the performances and other details connected with the daily routine of the theatre, events which would have greatly interested future generations of those who make a study of the Elizabethan stage. Scattered up and down the country, a few municipal documents have been discovered bearing upon this company, a fact which must cheer the hopes of those engaged in this dreary work that other references will in due course be found. At present, only by piecemeal, can any continuous history of this important London company be constructed.

The first document of any importance is dated 1589, proving that Lord Strange’s men acted at the Cross Keys, an inn-yard situated in Gracechurch Street. But playing there was contrary to an order forbidding acting in the City; they thereby incurred the censure of the Lord Mayor, who promptly seized two of the members and committed them to the Compter.

From this period, 1589, until the 19th of February, 1592, their history remains a blank. Luckily, owing to the Diary, they can with certainty be located as acting at the Rose Theatre from the 19th of February, 1592, until June the 22nd of the same year; at that date the theatre was closed on account of the plague, when the company sought the patronage of the provincial playgoer. During the last few months of the year they will be found playing in the West of England: Bath and Gloucester possess records of visits paid there.

On their return to London at the end of the year, they gave a few performances at Newington Butts, and then opened again at the Rose. The season was of short duration, lasting only from December 15th until the beginning of February, when the theatre was again closed on account of the plague, forcing them once more on the suffrage of the provincial towns, where they are found playing at Bath, Bristol and Shrewsbury.

The year 1592 was quite a busy one: besides their London engagements and two provincial tours they acted three times at Hampton Court during the month of December.

In Henslowe’s invaluable Diary twenty-three plays are attributed to Lord Strange’s company on their first recorded visit at the Rose Theatre. Evidence is in existence that this theatre may have been built and plays performed there as early as 1587. One play is of exceptional interest, namely, the first part of “Henry VI,” which is included in the First Folio of Shakespeare’s complete dramatic works, published for the first time in 1623.

“Pericles” is not included in this edition; perhaps omitted through carelessness, as many editions had been issued during the poet’s lifetime, with his name on the title page.

Another play mentioned in the Diary as acted by this company is “Titus and Vespasian,” which may have been the same play as “Titus Andronicus,” included in the canon of the First Folio. How much of the former play can be attributed to Shakespeare is very doubtful; that he had some share in the play is generally accepted, although some critics argue his authorship entirely. Meres mentioned the play in 1598 as written by Shakespeare, in spite of which there are a vast number of students who will not admit that their beloved Shakespeare had any hand in this chamber of horrors. Some scenes contain passages of undoubted poetical beauty, but in my opinion not above the standard of many writers of the time; in fact, I would banish this play altogether from the Shakesperean canon.

The first part of “Henry VI” was the most popular play of the period, and is mentioned by Nash as drawing tens of thousands of spectators. How would it have joyed brave Talbot, the terror of the French, to think that after he had lain two hundred years in his tomb he should triumph again on the stage and have his bones new embalmed with the tears of ten thousand spectators, at least at several times, who in the tragedian that represents his person imagine they behold him fresh bleeding. Pierce Penilesse, his supplication to the Devil, 1592.

The other plays acted need no comment; probably they all belonged to the Henslowe repertory. The different companies acting at Henslowe’s theatre were allowed the study of his plays, otherwise the explanation would be difficult how Strange’s company were found acting Marlowe’s “Jew of Malta,” which was at this period, undoubtedly, the property of Philip Henslowe.

1593.

At the close of the year 1592 the Strange Company is once more in possession of the Rose. Opening on the 9th of December, they continued there until the 1st of February, when the theatre again was closed on account of the plague. During this visit, they acted the same plays as on the former occasion, with the exception of producing two new plays, named respectively “The Jealous Comedy” and “The Guise; or, The Massacre of France.” Nearly the whole of this year London was infected with the plague, in consequence of which all the theatres were closed, and the companies compelled to travel. The Strange Company played at Chelmsford, Bristol, Shrewsbury, Coventry, and Leicester, and most probably at Chester and York. The two latter places are not found in the records, but the celebrated actor, Allen, when writing home to his wife, mentions that the company acted at other towns, and gave Chester and York as further addresses. A document of some importance granting a licence to the Strange Company was issued in this year, although Shakespeare was a member, his name is not included in the list of actors mentioned. Probably he was not yet a shareholder, which fact may account for his name being omitted.

Edward Allen, as servant to the Lord High Admiral, figures at the head of this list. Whether the custom permitted an actor attaching himself to two different companies has not been satisfactorily explained, although in this instance the evidence is quite clear.

During the year Lord Strange became the Earl of Derby, and by that name the company is recorded in the municipal documents of Coventry and Leicester. Under this title his name appears in print, and that on the title page of “Titus and Andronicus,” published in 1594, as acted by the Right Honourable the Earl of Derby, Earl of Pembroke, and Earl of Sussex, their servants. Once only the Earl of Derby’s name figures alone, and that is on the title page of a play called “The Trial of Chivalry,” by the Right Honourable the Earl of Derby, his Servants, 1605.

In connexion with the title page of “Titus and Andronicus,” an interesting and curious instance of the romance of books has recently been established. Langbaine, in his dictionary of dramatic literature, published in 1691, states that the first edition of “Titus and Andronicus” was published in 1594. In modern times the only known editions were those of 1600 and 1611. After nearly three hundred years a copy of this first edition, in 1594, turned up in Sweden, and was promptly secured by an American collector for two thousand pounds. How little these facts are studied can be seen by referring to the catalogue of the Tercentenary Exhibition of Shakespeare’s books, exhibited at the Victoria and Albert Museum, when the 1600 edition is catalogued as the first.

1594.

Few facts are known concerning the company during this year. The most important event affecting their welfare was the death of their patron, Ferdinand Stanley, Earl of Derby, which happened on April 16th, 1594. By an entry in the municipal records of Winchester, they did not immediately seek a new patron, acting under the patronage of the Countess of Derby the following month. Before June the third, they had become the servants of Henry Carey, Baron Hunsdon and Lord Chamberlain. An entry in the Diary of this year is the first intimation of this change: “In the name of God. Amen. Beginning at Newington. My Lord Admiral’s men and My Lord Chamberlain’s (Lord Hunsdon) men as followeth, 1594.” These two companies occupied the stage at Newington Butts from June 3rd until the 13th inst., when the Admiral’s men seceded and played at the Rose. The Chamberlain’s men may have continued at Newington, but no record of their performances is given. Anyway, their stay after the separation must have been a short one, as they visited Marlborough during the summer. The approach of autumn saw them again in London, Lord Hunsdon petitioning the Lord Mayor asking permission for his company to act at the Cross Keys, in Gracechurch Street. No answer is known in connexion with this petition, but the demand quite likely was granted; if so, Shakespeare’s earliest plays may have been performed in this very inn-yard, an act of sacrilege which seems to us almost inconceivable.

1595.

The bare enumeration of three performances at Court in the last days of December is all that is known of this company’s engagements during the year 1595. What a contrast to these days, when every stage event, however trivial, is fully chronicled by our daily and weekly press. Let us survey now the Elizabethan period: you will find no word of praise recorded to the greatest masterpieces of all time, although hundreds of books and pamphlets referring to current events were constantly being published at this time. The company was now under the patronage of Lord Hunsdon, who held the office of Lord Chamberlain, the actors being henceforth known until his death as the Lord Chamberlain’s servants. A document is still extant which proves that this company received a reward for playing at Greenwich on St. Stephen’s Day and Innocents’ Day. This entry is of great interest, as among those receiving payment is the name of Will Shakespeare. This is the first authentic record of Shakespeare being a member of this company.

Another document, dated December, 1596, refers to payments made in 1595, in which a reward was given to this company for acting five plays; three were given respectively on St. Stephen’s Day, St. John’s Day, and Innocents’ Day. Shakespeare’s name is not mentioned in this document, which states that the actors were the servants of the late Lord Chamberlain, and are now the servants of George Carey, second Baron Hunsdon. This second Baron did not immediately succeed his father as Lord Chamberlain, but held that office on the death of Lord Cobham, who had been elected to this high official position on the death of the first Lord Hunsdon. Lord Cobham died in 1596, and then the second Lord Hunsdon became Lord Chamberlain.

1596.

The Lord Chamberlain’s men acted twice at Court, namely, on Twelfth Night and again at Candlemas Day, at night; the reward was paid to John Hemings and George Bryan as representing the servants of the late Lord Chamberlain. Baron Hunsdon having died on July 22nd of this year. The Company again acted at Court at the end of the year, giving performances during the Christmas holidays. John Hemings and Thomas Pope received £60 as reward for the company’s services. Both Shakespeare’s and Burbage’s names are omitted in these documents. In former lists their names are mentioned; why their names were omitted is a rather perplexing problem. At this period they played a prominent part in the management of the company’s affairs, which makes the matter all the more mysterious. During the summer the company travelled in the provinces, but only once at Faversham can their destination be placed; at this town they are entered in the municipal records as the players of Lord Hunsdon. The London season of this company is quite unknown, with the exception of the Court performances. A vague reference to a performance of “Hamlet” at the theatre in Shoreditch connects them with this place of entertainment; the old “Hamlet” play which is lost was included in the repertoire of the Lord Chamberlain’s Servants. The paragraph alluding to the old “Hamlet” play occurs in a pamphlet written by Thomas Lodge, entitled, “Wits miserie and the World’s madness discovering the Devils incarnate of this Age.” One of the Devils is Hate-Vertue, or sorrow for another man’s good success, who says that he is a foul lubber and looks as pale as the vizard of the ghost which cried so miserably at the Theatre like an oyster-wife “‘Hamlet’ revenge.” This play is generally assigned to Thomas Kyd, the dramatist, and it is almost certain that from this tragedy Shakespeare founded his own play of “Hamlet.”

1597.

Very little can be gleaned of the company’s whereabouts during this year. They appeared at Court during the Christmas holidays, and received their usual reward. As the theatres in London were closed by order of the Privy Council from August to October, we find them touring the provinces: records of their visits are found at Bath, Bristol, Rye, Dover, and Marlborough. On the title page of the first quarto of “Romeo and Juliet, 1597,” it states that the play was acted with great applause by Lord Hunsdon’s men; this was the second Lord Hunsdon, who had not yet become Lord Chamberlain. Marston refers to a performance of “Romeo and Juliet” given at the Curtain in a book of Satires, dated 1598. This is the only reference to the company appearing in London during this year.

1598.

There only remain very scanty materials to help us in tracing the engagements of the company during this year. They played as usual before the Court during the Christmas holidays. Mr. J. T. Murray, in his admirable and exhaustive study of this company, is unable, owing to want of material, to give a list of their provincial engagements after the year 1597 until their visit to London and Scotland in 1601. As Mr. Murray’s work on the history of the London dramatic companies is the only one that gives a systematic account of the company’s touring programme, there is no higher authority or court of appeal. No doubt the company toured the provinces during these blank years, but all records are lost.

According to Halliwell-Phillipps, a very interesting performance was witnessed at the Curtain Theatre, namely, Ben Jonson’s comedy of “Everyman in his Humour,” in which Shakespeare himself acted the part of old Knowle. Ben Jonson, according to Aubrey, acted in his own play, but his name is omitted in the list of actors prefixed to the first quarto edition of the play. Aubrey, in his Lives, has the following paragraph:

“Jonson acted and wrote, but both ill, at the Green Curtaine, a kind of nursery or obscure playhouse somewhere in the suburbs, I think towards Shoreditch or Clerkenwell.” It is surprising that everyone writing about the stage in the seventeenth century should be so densely ignorant concerning the history of one of the chief playhouses during the Shakesperean era.

1599.

This year is an important one in the theatrical history of Shakespeare’s company as during this time the dispute of granting a further licence to the lessees of the Theatre occurred, which ended in the demolition of the Theatre and the erection of the Globe Theatre in Shoreditch.

“Every man out of his Humour” was first acted at the Globe in 1599. There is no record of any other company acting here, so it may well be styled Shakespeare’s Theatre. Astonishing as it may well seem to us, the truth is that no reference can be found in contemporary literature of the opening of the Globe Theatre. Surely an event of such importance must have attracted thousands of the pleasure loving populace, yet not a single member of that vast assembly jotted down a memorandum on that auspicious occasion. How we should hail with delight a contemporary criticism of the first night of “Hamlet” and a detailed account of the actor-author’s rendering of the Ghost, a part which tradition says he made his own, but these vain thoughts are the flimsy creations of an idle brain, and must be discarded for the bare facts such as we are acquainted with.

1600–1603.

Beyond performances at Courts in January, February and during Christmas, the whereabouts of this company are quite unknown. However, we may assume that they remained in London, and acted at their new theatre without intermission until the end of Elizabeth’s reign.

This period was one of great activity in Shakespeare’s life, and many of his plays found their way to the printing press. “The Merchant of Venice,” “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” and “Much Ado about Nothing” were all published for the first time in the year 1600. The date of publication may have been years after the play was first produced at the theatre; in fact, “The Merchant of Venice” is mentioned by Meres in a literary work published in 1598, and even then the play may have been written a year or two earlier.

A fair conclusion is that all these plays were revived at this period, and then success led ultimately to their publication.

During the Essex Rebellion a play on the subject of “Richard II” was produced at the Globe. Whether this was Shakespeare’s play or another quite distinct drama is a point under discussion. Shakespeare’s, or not Shakespeare’s, the company was censured and severely reprimanded for acting this play at such a critical time; the Queen was highly incensed, and their non-appearance at Court during the year was on account of their short-sighted policy. After a few months the affair blew over, and the company was once again reinstated in the Queen’s favour. A document states they received twenty pounds reward for acting on St. Stephen’s Day. From the year 1600 until the death of the Queen in 1603, very little information is available in helping us in reconstructing the history and fortunes of this company, and until the accession of James the First nothing of interest can be gleaned.

The King, by a deed dated May 17th, 1603, licensed the company to act at their usual place, the Globe, and also allowed them to give performances at any town halls or moot halls or other convenient places within the liberties and freedom of any other city, university, town, or borough whatsoever, ‘within our said realms and dominions.’ This deed mentions the name of Shakespeare and Burbage among others. When the first quarto of “Hamlet” was published in 1603 the title page bore the following imprint:

The company assumed the title of the King’s Servants almost immediately on his accession. There is no record of their playing in London during the year 1603, which may be accounted for by a severe visitation of the plague, which caused all theatres and places of amusement to be closed. While the plague lasted, the Court was transferred to Wilton, the seat of the Earl of Pembroke, and there Shakespeare and his company acted on the 29th December, 1603. The plague continued during the next three months; meanwhile the company acted before the King at Hampton Court on several occasions. The provincial towns were again organized, for they are found playing at Shrewsbury, Bath, Coventry, and Oxford; at the last place “Hamlet” was one of the plays given.

1604–1609.

The Coronation of James was postponed on account of the plague, and it was not until the second year of his reign that this event was celebrated. Included in the procession, the actors of the King’s company took their place, clothed in crimson.

Little is known of the company’s engagements beyond a brief notice of having played in a piece called “The Gowrie Conspiracy,” which brought the players into disfavour. Unfortunately, very scanty records are in existence giving details of the repertoire of the Globe. The usual Court performances took place each year, and when the proprietors closed the theatre the company visited the provinces. In 1613 the Globe was burnt to the ground; before this event Shakespeare had ceased to be a member. The theatre was rebuilt in 1614; the actors continued under the patronage of the King until his death in 1625. After that event, Charles I, who succeeded his father, extended his patronage to the company, and they remained the servants until all the theatres were closed by Act of Parliament, 1642, on account of the outbreak of the Civil War. The Shakesperean plays, written expressly for the Globe Theatre, included “Hamlet,” “Othello,” “Macbeth,” “King Lear,” and many of his comedies and histories.