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Shakespeare was involved in many aspects of London’s professional theatrical world. He was an actor, a playwright, and a shareholder in an acting company known as the Lord Chamberlain’s Men, which became the King’s Men when James I became king in 1603. His plays were performed on professional stages owned by his company--first the Theatre, and then, after 1599, the Globe. (After a property dispute, the Theatre was disassembled and the timbers used to build the Globe). In 1609, his company began using its own indoor theater at Blackfriars. His plays were performed in many other spaces, including the royal court, the universities of Oxford and Cambridge and the Inns of Court, public buildings and outdoor spaces in the provinces, and private households.

The total number of Shakespeare’s plays varies somewhat, depending on who is counting them, and how. The total shifts between 38 and 40 plays as scholars reassess references to his two lost plays--Love’s Labor’s Won and Cardenio--and analyze how large a hand he had in some collaboratively-written plays.

This category includes all publications of his plays, up to and including the First Folio in 1623; all entries for his plays in the Stationers' Register; administrative documents from the National Archives and elsewhere that make reference to his theaters and theater companies; and printed and handwritten references to seeing and/or reading his plays. Read Alan H. Nelson's thematic essay to learn more about lawsuits in Shakespeare's England.

Visit the British Library's Shakespeare in Quarto, to learn even more about actorsplayhouses and theater companies in Shakespeare's time, and to view completely digitized copies of Shakespeare's plays.

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1611
The Revels Book of 1611–12 records that the court saw only two of Shakespeare’s plays. This is five fewer than the seven performances recorded in the 1604–5 accounts.
1611
The third edition of Pericles was printed in 1611. It retains certain textual errors introduced in the second edition, indicating that the third edition was based on the previous one.
1611
This is the third edition of Titus Andronicus. On April 19, 1602 Thomas Millington transferred the right to publish the play to Thomas Pavier. However, the third edition was not printed until 1611, and lists Edward White, not Pavier, as the publisher.
1611
The Troublesome Reign of King John was first published anonymously in 1591, but the second quarto of 1611 includes the attribution “Written by W.Sh.” In 1622, a third quarto expanded this to “W.
1611
In the last year of his life, the astrologer Simon Forman (1552-1611) recorded his impressions of the plots and lessons of four plays he saw at the Globe, three of which were by Shakespeare: Macbeth on April 20, 1611 (he mistakenly writes 1610), a production of Richard II by an
1611
This book is the only surviving play manuscript used by Shakespeare’s company, the King’s Men. It is also the only surviving copy of the play itself, which became known as The Second Maiden’s Tragedy.
1611
SHAKESPEARE DOCUMENTED IS STILL GROWING! Descriptive content and transcriptions will continue to be added, updated and expanded. Check back for regular updates!
undated, possibly 1611?
SHAKESPEARE DOCUMENTED IS STILL GROWING! Descriptive content and transcriptions will continue to be added, updated and expanded. Check back for regular updates!
1612
This is the fifth edition of Richard III, printed in 1612. Like the fourth edition, it was printed by Thomas Creede for Matthew Law.
1612
The playwright John Webster included Shakespeare in the list of dramatists he admired in his preface to The White Devil, printed in 1612 by Nicholas Okes for Thomas Archer. Webster asserts his support of his contemporaries (image 3: A2v):

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