The King’s MenShakespeare’s company, the King’s Men, were in their day regarded as the greatest actors in England. From their formation in 1594 until the closure of the playhouses in 1642, they maintained supremacy over London’s ever-changing theatrical landscape.

The Burbage family were initially at the heart of the company. James Burbage, a carpenter and amateur actor, converted the Red Lion into a performance space in 1567, and then constructed England’s first-ever purpose-built playhouse, the Theatre, in 1576. His sons worked alongside him and played integral roles in the company long after his death in 1597—Richard was the lead actor and original performer of Richard III, Romeo, Brutus, Hamlet, Othello, Macbeth and Lear, amongst others; older brother Cuthbert was the company’s manager and landlord.

They first formed in 1594 when the Lord Chamberlain, Henry Carey, established two new companies of actors, giving them a duopoly over London in the hope of quelling local government hostility towards theatre and its lawlessness. He made himself patron of the company led by the Burbages and playing in the Theatre, north of the city, while his son-in-law Charles Howard became patron of the other, the Admiral’s Men, led by actor Edward Alleyn and manager Philip Henslowe, playing in the Rose, south of the city. The Lord Chamberlain’s Men were formed from the remnants of earlier companies such as Lord Strange’s Men, Pembroke’s Men, and Sussex’s Men. The structure of the company stayed the same throughout its career: they had a core of about eight ‘sharers’—including Shakespeare—who were the principal actors but also co-owned the venues and shared the financial risk. ‘Hired men’ were employed to play smaller roles in the plays and the business.

They survived the loss of their original playhouse to open the Globe in 1599, and experienced a boost in fortunes in 1603 when they came under the patronage of the new monarch, James I, and were re-named the King’s Men. With the new vogue for masques during James’ reign they became the preeminent company at court, and the more sophisticated performance style and technical innovations required by court masques were maintained when the King’s Men started operating indoors at the smaller, more elite Blackfriars playhouse from 1607 onwards. When the Globe was destroyed by fire in 1613, they promptly rebuilt it and the second Globe made use of everything the company had learnt from the first, at court, and at the Blackfriars.

Shakespeare’s last writing for the company was done in collaboration with John Fletcher in 1613-1614, but his plays stayed in repertory long after his death in 1616. Richard Burbage died three years later and most of his roles were inherited by Joseph Taylor. Cuthbert Burbage managed the company until 1636. The accession of Charles I in 1625 saw the company retain royal patronage but set the country on a path that would result in civil war, and all playhouses closed in 1642. This was the end of the King’s Men, though some vestiges of their repertory and membership survived beyond the restoration of the monarchy in 1660.

Illustration of the famous clown Will Kempe morris-dancing from London to Norwich after parting ways with the Lord Chamberlain’s Men in 1599.

Frontispiece to Kirkman’s The Wits in 1662, depicting the King’s Men.

Henry Carey, original patron of the Lord Chamberlain’s Men. Portrait of Richard Burbage, the original lead actor in all of Shakespeare’s plays.