Lord Chamberlain's Men

The Lord Chamberlain’s Men was a London acting company best known for being William Shakespeare’s professional group for a significant portion of his career. Arising as a result of a merger between several earlier companies, the Lord Chamberlain’s Men came to be regarded as one of London’s top acting companies and even enjoyed the patronage of two separate monarchs. Much of the company’s renown was due to Shakespeare’s association with it as an actor, playwright, and shareholder. The Lord Chamberlain’s Men performed a number of Shakespeare’s works, including Henry VI, Titus Andronicus, and The Taming of the Shrew. The company was also responsible for building the famous Globe Theatre. While its name was changed to the King’s Men under the patronage of James I in 1603, the Lord Chamberlain’s Men continued to perform until the London theaters were closed in 1642 with the onset of the English Civil War (1642–1651).

Background

The Elizabethan era was a revolutionary time for the English theater. It was during this period that theater first started to become a widely popular and even somewhat respected art form. Purpose-built theaters were constructed for the first time, and acting companies offered actors the opportunity to make a more reliable living from their craft.

Before the Elizabethan era, the life of an actor was anything but certain. Most actors earned only a meager living as strolling players who traveled about the provinces performing wherever they could find work. The difficulty of making a living as an actor was a direct result of strong religious opposition to theater among the more conservative elements of English society. On the other hand, however, actors enjoyed a great deal of aristocratic support. Ultimately, it was this support that allowed theater to flourish during the English Renaissance of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

As theater grew in popularity, many nobles who sought to support the arts began to sponsor their own acting companies. By the time that Elizabeth I ascended to the throne in 1558, acting companies were a sort of status symbol for members of the aristocracy. The relationship between actors and the aristocracy became even more important with the passage of the 1572 Act for the Punishment of Vagabonds. This law stated that actors could be arrested as vagabonds unless they had the patronage of an aristocrat or two justices of the peace. As a result, aristocratically sponsored acting companies became the only safe and reliable home for actors.

Acting companies in the Elizabethan era featured a distinct internal hierarchy. At the top of that hierarchy were the sharers, or actors who owned a stake in the company and shared in its profits. Below them were the hireling actors who were simply paid a weekly wage. At the bottom of the ladder were the apprentices who earned little more than a pittance. Some of the elite Elizabethan acting companies included the Admiral’s Men and Leicester’s Men. Perhaps the best-known company, however, was the Lord Chamberlain’s Men.

Overview

The history of the Lord Chamberlain’s Men began with Henry Carey, 1st Lord Hunsdon. Sometime around 1564, Carey became the patron of an acting company known as Hunsdon’s Men. The members of Hunsdon’s Men were subsequently absorbed into another acting company called the Queen’s Men in 1583. When Carey was made Lord Chamberlain two years later, a new company was created from members of Hunsdon’s Men, the Lord Strange’s Men, and several other companies. This new company came to be called the Lord Chamberlain’s Men.

The Lord Chamberlain’s Men first performed around 1590. Its membership included a number of notable figures in the blossoming theater community. Among the Lord Chamberlain’s Men sharers were William Shakespeare, Richard Burbage, William Kemp, John Heminges, and Henry Condell. Shakespeare is of course the most well-known member of this group. The Elizabethan era’s most prominent playwright, Shakespeare authored such legendary works as Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, and Hamlet. Shakespeare was the principal writer for the Lord Chamberlain’s Men and also an occasional actor. Although it remains uncertain whether or not he was an original member of the Lord Chamberlain’s Men, he was definitively one of the company’s top sharers by 1595.

Richard Burbage was the lead tragedian of the Lord Chamberlain’s Men and perhaps the best-known actor of the entire Elizabethan era. He was the son of James Burbage, an actor who famously built London’s first theater in 1576. The younger Burbage played many notable roles, including great Shakespearian leads such as Romeo and Macbeth.

William Kemp was the top comedian of the Elizabethan stage. He was known for comic roles such as Peter in Romeo and Juliet and Dogberry in Much Ado about Nothing. It is believed that Kemp also played the Clown in Titus Andronicus and Bottom in A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

John Heminges, Henry Condell, and the other members of the Lord Chamberlain’s Men were less well known. Heminges and Condell are primarily remembered for publishing the First Folio of Shakespeare’s works in 1623.

After the London theaters were closed in 1592 due to an outbreak of the plague, the Lord Chamberlain’s Men was kept off the stage for two years. When Henry Carey died in 1596, patronage of the Lord Chamberlain’s Men fell to his son, George Carey. Accordingly, the company was again referred to as Lord Hunsdon’s Men for the next few years. With its lease on the land at the Theatre at Shoreditch running out in 1599, the company tore it down and reconstructed it as the Globe Theatre on the south bank of the River Thames. Upon the death of Elizabeth I in 1603, the company’s patronage was taken over by the new king, James I. With that, its name was changed once more to the King’s Men. As the King’s Men, the Lord Chamberlain’s Men continued to perform until the closing of theaters at the beginning of the English Civil War in 1642. Since that time, the Lord Chamberlain’s Men has come to be seen as the greatest and most influential of all Elizabethan acting companies.

Bibliography

“About.” The Lord Chamberlain’s Men, www.tlcm.co.uk/about. Accessed 12 Sept. 2018.

Brody, Paul. Shakespeare & Company: The Story of Lord Chamberlain’s Men. BookCaps, 2014.

“Elizabethan Theatre.” Victoria and Albert Museum, www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/e/elizabethan-theatre. Accessed 12 Sept. 2018.

Franz, Paris. “Shakespeare and the Lord Chamberlain’s Men.” Decoded Past, 17 Sept. 2014, decodedpast.com/shakespeare-lord-chamberlains-men/13444. Accessed 12 Sept. 2018.

“The Lord Chamberlain’s Men.” Internet Shakespeare Editions, internetshakespeare.uvic.ca/Library/SLT/stage/acting/chamberlainsmen.html. Accessed 12 Sept. 2018.

“The Lord Chamberlain’s Men.” Luminarium, www.luminarium.org/encyclopedia/chamberlainsmen.htm. Accessed 12 Sept. 2018.

MacLean, Sally-Beth. “The Actors Are Well Rewarded in Cambridge: Was Shakespeare among Them?” BBC, www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/279h5SKvBrM9whwDpJWNbjn/the-actors-are-well-rewarded-in-cambridge. Accessed 12 Sept. 2018.

“Shakespeare’s Company.” Shakespeare Documented, shakespearedocumented.folger.edu/exhibition/playwright-actor-shareholder/shakespeares-company. Accessed 12 Sept. 2018.