8-2QueensMen

How did Shakespeare begin a life and career in theatre? Who are the Queen’s Men, and what role may they have played in Shakespeare’s early life? //Answer prepared by Colin H.// According to the British Library’s “William Shakespeare in Quarto”, “We do not know how and when he became an actor, or when he began writing plays either in collaboration with other dramatists or alone. His work as a dramatist is recorded through his published plays, but his career as an actor is virtually undocumented. Shakespeare is mentioned occasionally, in official records, in the records of the lives of his relations and friends, and in the writings of his fellow actors and dramatists, and that is all. His life and career have been more extensively researched than those of any other writer, but the evidence remains elusive.” We are not sure how Shakespeare’s career began and what he did in his early life. As you can see in this next quote, people are still not sure on the job Shakespeare had or what he did in his early life. “Shakespeare left many mysteries behind. His early jobs could have been a butcher, a law clerk, a schoolmaster, or a gardener. He could have assisted his father, a glovemaker. He could have been a trader in commodities, or a publisher, or a soldier. He could have been all of these things because he knew so much about them in his plays and poems.” All we can say now is, “Shakespeare’s first exposure to theater probably occurred when he was young. As a child his father probably took him to see plays when traveling troupes of actors came to town, although that was not often.” This quote explains what we think was Shakespeare’s first exposure to theater.