Lord Chamberlain's Men: Difference between revisions

'''The Lord Chamberlain's Men''' was a company of actors, or a "[[playing company]]" (as it then would likely have been described), for which [[William Shakespeare]] wrote during most of his career. [[Richard Burbage]] played most of the lead roles, including [[Prince Hamlet|Hamlet]], [[Othello (character)|Othello]], [[Leir of Britain|King Lear]], and [[Macbeth (character)|Macbeth]]. Formed at the end of a period of flux in the theatrical world of London, it had become, by 1603, one of the two leading companies of the city and was subsequently patronized by [[James I of England|James I]].

The Chamberlain's Men comprised a core of eight "[[shareholder|sharers]]", who split profits and debts; perhaps an equal number of hired men who acted minor and doubled parts; and a slightly smaller number of [[boy player]]s, who were sometimes bound apprentices to an adult actor. The original sharers in the Chamberlain's were eight. Probably the most famous in the 1590s to the 1600s was [[William Kempe]], who had been in the company of the [[Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester|Earl of Leicester]] in the 1580s, and had later joined the King's Men. As the company's clown, he presumably took the broadest comic role in every play; he is identified with Peter in the [[book size|quarto]] of ''[[Romeo and Juliet]]'', and probably also originated Dog-berry in ''[[Much Ado About Nothing]]'' and Bottom in ''[[A Midsummer Night's Dream]]''. Kempe has traditionally been viewed as the object of Hamlet's complaint about extemporising clowns; whether this association is right or wrong, Kempe had left the company by 1601. Another two sharers from Strange's Men had a long-standing association with Kempe. [[George Bryan (16th-century actor)|George Bryan]] had been in Leicester's Men in the 1580s, and at [[Elsinore]] with Kempe in 1586; because he is not mentioned in later Chamberlain's or King's Men documents, it is assumed that Bryan retired from the stage in 1597 or 1598. (Bryan lived on for some years; in the reign of [[King James I of England|James]], he is listed as a [[Groom of the Chamber]], with household duties, as late as 1613.) [[Thomas Pope (16th-century actor)|Thomas Pope]], another Leicester's veteran, retired in 1600 and died in 1603. Both Bryan and Pope came to the company from Lord Strange's Men.

Shakespeare's work undoubtedly formed the great bulk of the company's repertory.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Gurr |first1=Andrew |author1-link=Andrew Gurr |title=The Shakespeare Company, 1594–1642 |date=2004 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9780521807302 |page=xiii |quote=[…] the Lord Chamberlain's Men was the Shakespeare company.}}</ref> In their first year of performance, they may have staged such of Shakespeare's older plays as remained in the author's possession, including ''[[Henry VI, Part 2]]'', ''[[Henry VI, Part 3]]'', as well as ''[[Titus Andronicus]]''. ''[[A Midsummer Night's Dream]]'' may have been the first play Shakespeare wrote for the new company; it was followed over the next two years by a concentrated burst of creativity that resulted in ''[[Romeo and Juliet]]'', ''[[Love's Labours Lost]]'', ''[[The Merchant of Venice]]'', and the plays in the so-called second [[tetralogy]]. The extent and nature of the non-Shakespearean repertory in the first is not known; plays such as ''[[Locrine]]'', ''[[The Troublesome Reign of King John]]'', and [[Christopher Marlowe]]'s ''[[Edward II (play)|Edward II]]'' have somewhat cautiously been advanced as likely candidates. The earliest non-Shakespearean play known to have been performed by the company is [[Ben Jonson]]'s ''[[Every Man in His Humour]]'', which was produced in the middle of 1598; they also staged the thematic sequel, ''[[Every Man Out of His Humour]]'', the next year.

The Lord Chamberlain's Men, and its individual members, largely avoided the scandals and turbulence in which other companies and actors sometimes involved themselves. Their most serious difficulty with the government came about as a result of their tangential involvement in the February 1601 insurrection of the [[Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex|Earl of Essex]]. Some of Essex's supporters had commissioned a special performance of Shakespeare's ''[[Richard II (play)|Richard II]]'' in the hope that the spectacle of that king's overthrow might make the public more amenable to the overthrow of Elizabeth (who later remarked, "I am Richard II, know ye not that?"). Augustine Phillips was deposed on the matter by the investigating authorities; he testified that the actors had been offered 40 shillings more than their usual fee, and for that reason alone had performed the play on 7 February, the day before Essex's uprising.<ref name="bate256">{{cite book|last=Bate|first=Jonathan|author-link=Jonathan Bate|title=Soul of the Age|publisher=Penguin|location=London|date=2008|pages=256–86256–286|isbn=978-0-670-91482-1}}</ref> The explanation was accepted; the company and its members went unpunished, and even performed for Elizabeth at [[Whitehall]] on 24 February, the day before Essex's execution.

The following year, 1602, saw [[Christopher Beeston]]'s rape charge. Probably some of the Lord Chamberlain's Men were among the actors who accompanied Beeston to his pretrial hearing at [[Bridewell Palace|Bridewell]] and caused a disturbance there; but little can be said for certain.<ref>Duncan Salkeld, "Literary Traces in Bridewell and Bethlem, 1602–1624," ''Review of English Studies,'' Vol. 56 No. 225, pp. 279–85279–285.</ref>

Theatre-going became an extremely popular activity for many in London in the late 16th and early 17th century because of the constant advertisement seen throughout London playbills. During these years London had a population of approximately 200,000. Within that group of 200,000 over 15,000 men and women attended plays on a weekly basis. The Londoners who attended the theatre also enjoyed cock-fighting, bull-baiting, and bear-baiting.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Höffle |first1=Andreas |editor1-last=Grabes |editor1-first=Herbert |title=Literary history -– cultural history force fields and tensions |date=2001 |publisher=Gunter Narr |location=Tübingen |isbn=9783823341710978-3823341710 |page=165}}</ref> The theatres were in a rough part of London and were surrounded by the vices of drinking, gambling, and prostitution.<ref name="auto">Cain, William E. "Notes Toward a Supreme Fiction: Shakespeare at 400." Society, vol. 53, no. 1, Feb. 2016, pp. 76–87.</ref>

As Lord Chamberlain’s Men popularity grew, they began to attract more and more theatre goers and became one of the most popular playing companies. But as their popularity grew so did the demand. The audience’s lives were ever changing which led to Lord Chamberlain’s Men having to cater to their audience resulting in the group having to perform six different plays every week. This was extremely strenuous on the actors as they had to memorize lines from many different plays and were given very little time if any for rehearsal.<ref>Cain, William E. name="Notes Toward a Supreme Fiction: Shakespeare at 400.auto" Society, vol. 53, no. 1, />

As Lord Chamberlain’s Men continued to prosper, they began to perform at larger venues. In 1599 they began playing at the outdoor Globe Theatre that had a capacity of 30003,000 people and in 1609 they began performing at the indoor [[Blackfriars Theatre]] that had a capacity limit of 600. The minimum entry price at the Blackfriars was sixpence, six times that of the Globe, with better seats charged at eighteen and thirty pence.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Dustagheer |first1=Sarah |title=Shakespeare's Two Playhouses: Repertory and Theatre Space at the Globe and the Blackfriars, 1599–1613 |date=2017 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1107190160 |page=20}}</ref> This allowed the company to make money year-round from being able to have productions at indoor and outdoor theatres.<ref>Cain, William E. name="Notes Toward a Supreme Fiction: Shakespeare at 400.auto" Society, vol. 53, no. 1, />

* Gurr, Andrew. ''The Shakespearean Stage, 1574–1642''. 3rd Editioned. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992.