Sep 5, 2008

Shakespeare's World | Theaters and the Dramatic Profession

The Rise of Commercial Acting
Shakespeare was ten years old when, in 1574, the English government began to license professional playing companies for the first time. He was twelve when the first playhouse built in London exclusively for the commercial showing of plays came into existence. By 1590, he had made himself one of the first generation of playwrights to earn a living from writing for the commercial stage. At the age of thirty, he became a shareholder in one of the two companies licensed to perform in London and probably at the same time became the first playwright in...