Shakespeare: The Biography
by
Peter Ackroyd
Part Three
Chapter 27: My Sallad Days
Within a few years Lord's Strange's Men had acquired an enviable reputation. They had good material with which to work. Two of Shakespeare's earliest plays were already part of the repetoire. We can trace some of their tours in this early period - Coventry in 1584, Beverley in 1585 and their likely London venues are well known. They sometimes acted jointly with the Admiral's Men as the paramount companies of the period.
In 1590 the Lord Admiral's Men and Lord Strange's Men had come to some reciprocal arrangement whereby the Admiral's performed at the Theatre and Strange's at the adjacent Curtain. In the following season of 1591-2 the joint company was commanded to perform six times at court. We have a picture of the young Shakespeare acting before the queen. Among the other twenty-seven actors in Lord Strange's company, and thus Shakespeare's colleagues, were Augustine Phillips, Will Sly, Thomas Pope, George Bryan, Richard Cowley and of course Burbage himself. The remarkable fact is that all of these actors worked with Shakespeare for the rest of his life and that their names are appended to the First Folio of his work published in 1623. The titles of some of their early plays have survived and we can assume that the young Shakespeare at some point acted in popular dramas such as The Seven Deadly Sins, A Knack to Know the Knave and Friar Bacon. There is a "plot" to The Seven Deadly Seven Sins in which many of the actors are named - among them Pope, Phillips and Burbage. There is also a stray reference to the actors who played female parts - among them Nick, Robert, Ned and Will. "Will" is interesting. It may seem implausible that an actor in his mid-twenties would play a female role, but not inconceivable. It is, in any case, intriguing.
In the early years of Shakespeare's relationship with Lord Strange may have been amplified in a poem. "The Phoenix and the Turtle" have confused critics and scholars alike with it's arcane and esoteric vocabulary. It is not known to whom the poem is addressing or for what occasion. It may have been written for Lord Strange's sister when she married in 1586. If that is the case, then the young man's relationship with the family was that of a household poet. It has been suggested that Lord Strange commissioned Shakespeare to compose the cycle of history plays as a tribute to Elizabeth and the nation. In his historical plays, Shakespeare awards Lord Stanley's ancestors with patriotic and benevolent roles. The Stanleys and the Derbys are prominent in three parts of Henry V, The praise of Clifford in Henry VI , may well be a reflection of the fact that Lord Strange was the son of Margaret Clifford. What better way to acknowledge a patron?
It is not at all clear when Shakespeare began writing these histories or when he embarked upon comedies. Biographers and scholars have argued over these dates for years. The theatrical record of this period notoriously imprecise and muddled. Companies of players owned certain plays as did the managers of the London theatres.
Various inferior plays have been ascribed to Shakespeare as juvenile work. written when he first became acquainted with the stage. Certain surviving plays bear traces of the young Shakespeare's additions and interpolations. In his first years he may have worked as a reviser of botched or incomplete plays.
The supposition must be that he began to write long before he came to London-poetry came instinctively and easily to him. Given the large number of plays that have been ascribed to him, it is also fair to assume that he began writing drama soon after first joining the theatre as an actor. There are certain early plays that may be in part or in whole of his work. There was an early version of Hamlet, and perhaps of Pericles. There are other plays which bear the unmistakable impress of Shakespeare's imagination, Edmund Ironside and Edward the Third. They are well shaped and confident.
Their inclusion in any list of tentative Shakespearian titles is not surprising, since in many instances they represent the germ or seed from which his more recognisable plays emerge. It is generally accepted that he continued to revise his plays all his life/ keeping in mind the demands of performances. There is every reason to believe that the plays currently available in print offer only a provisional version of the plays performed.
So we see that Shakespeare attended the plays of John Lyly and George Peele as well as watching the first performances of Tamburlain. He was aware of Marlowe's brilliant success. The manuscript of the first three books of Edmund Spencers' The Faeirie Queen was in London. We also have alleged "early" plays by Shakespeare that have accounted for three years of writing. During this period the pamphleteer mounted a number of attacks upon an unamed dramatist, whom he considered to be both unlearned and a plagiarist of other men's styles. Who was that particular dramatist?
In the early years of Shakespeare's relationship with Lord Strange may have been amplified in a poem. "The Phoenix and the Turtle" have confused critics and scholars alike with it's arcane and esoteric vocabulary. It is not known to whom the poem is addressing or for what occasion. It may have been written for Lord Strange's sister when she married in 1586. If that is the case, then the young man's relationship with the family was that of a household poet. It has been suggested that Lord Strange commissioned Shakespeare to compose the cycle of history plays as a tribute to Elizabeth and the nation. In his historical plays, Shakespeare awards Lord Stanley's ancestors with patriotic and benevolent roles. The Stanleys and the Derbys are prominent in three parts of Henry V, The praise of Clifford in Henry VI , may well be a reflection of the fact that Lord Strange was the son of Margaret Clifford. What better way to acknowledge a patron?
It is not at all clear when Shakespeare began writing these histories or when he embarked upon comedies. Biographers and scholars have argued over these dates for years. The theatrical record of this period notoriously imprecise and muddled. Companies of players owned certain plays as did the managers of the London theatres.
Various inferior plays have been ascribed to Shakespeare as juvenile work. written when he first became acquainted with the stage. Certain surviving plays bear traces of the young Shakespeare's additions and interpolations. In his first years he may have worked as a reviser of botched or incomplete plays.
The supposition must be that he began to write long before he came to London-poetry came instinctively and easily to him. Given the large number of plays that have been ascribed to him, it is also fair to assume that he began writing drama soon after first joining the theatre as an actor. There are certain early plays that may be in part or in whole of his work. There was an early version of Hamlet, and perhaps of Pericles. There are other plays which bear the unmistakable impress of Shakespeare's imagination, Edmund Ironside and Edward the Third. They are well shaped and confident.
Their inclusion in any list of tentative Shakespearian titles is not surprising, since in many instances they represent the germ or seed from which his more recognisable plays emerge. It is generally accepted that he continued to revise his plays all his life/ keeping in mind the demands of performances. There is every reason to believe that the plays currently available in print offer only a provisional version of the plays performed.
So we see that Shakespeare attended the plays of John Lyly and George Peele as well as watching the first performances of Tamburlain. He was aware of Marlowe's brilliant success. The manuscript of the first three books of Edmund Spencers' The Faeirie Queen was in London. We also have alleged "early" plays by Shakespeare that have accounted for three years of writing. During this period the pamphleteer mounted a number of attacks upon an unamed dramatist, whom he considered to be both unlearned and a plagiarist of other men's styles. Who was that particular dramatist?
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