8-3LordChamberlainsMen


 * 29. WHO WERE THE LORD CHAMBERLAIN’S MEN, LATER CALLED THE KING’S MEN? WHAT WAS SHAKESPEARE’S ROLE IN THE LORD CHAMBERLAIN’S MEN/THE KING’S MEN?**

//Answer prepared by Connor S//

The Lord Chamberlain's Men was a company of actors, of which Shakespeare supposedly was a founding member. It was so named Lord Chamberlain's Men because the company was formed under the patronage, or sponsorship, of the Lord Chamberlain. In Elizabethan England, it was common for acting troupes to be sponsored by nobility, to gain permission to don noble attire when performing, which could only be approved of by the Queen, and to obtain licenses to travel around the country. You could not travel without these licenses in England, which were issued to limit the spread of the Bubonic Plague

The original name of the troupe was the Lord Strange's Men, named for the same reason, but he passed away in 1594. Hence, they decided to change the patronage to Lord Chamberlain, then to Lord Hudson after Chamberlain's death, and then, when James V was crowned James I, the patronage changed to the king, or the King's Men. Women, at the time, could not perform onstage, so all members of the company were men. The original actors included the following names of Richard Burbage (a principal, or lead, actor of the troupe), William Shakespeare, John Heminge, Augustine Phillips, Illiam Kempe, Thomas Pope, George Bryan, Richard Cowley, Samuel Gilbourne, William Sly, Henry Condell, and John Sincler. Andm. As Micheal Best wrote on the Internet Shakespeare Edition website under “The Lord Chamberlain’s Men, “they became the leading theatrical company in London by 1600.”

Shakespeare had an important role in The Lord Chamberlain's Men. The Lord Chamberlain's Men was one of two theatrical companies that held monopolies in the Elizabethan theater business. These companies could invest in their permanent playhouses in the capital. They could put on many more plays, and they could afford expensive costumes. They were thus able to attract regular audiences. Most important, they required brilliant new writers like Shakespeare to create new plays to ensure that those followers continued to follow in the hope of new and exciting productions. Therefore, most of Shakespeare's productions were written with the Lord Chamberlain's Men in mind.

The Lord Chamberlain's Men was formed in 1594 and disbanded in 1642 with the outbreak of the English Civil War and the closing of the theaters. Between those two dates, the Lord's Men made theater-going a popular attraction with their numerous appearances throughout England. They performed frequently at the Globe Theater, which Shakespeare's company erected around the year 1598 in London's Bankside district. The materials used to build the Globe were originally the first theater in London called the Theatre. Upon hearing their lease had expired, the men stripped the Theatre down to its foundation, moved the materials across the Thames to Bankside, and proceeded to use them in constructing the Globe. They also performed at the other three major theaters in the area, the Swan, the Rose, and the Hope. These theaters were open-air, octagonal and rose three stories high with a diameter of approximately 100 feet, holding a seating capacity of up to 3,000 spectators. The rectangular stage platform on which the plays were performed was nearly 43 feet wide and 28 feet deep. There were also some primitive rigging overhead and trap doors for various effects. Using these simple effects King’s Men enchanted audiences of all ages with arguably the best acting in London.

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