THE
QUEEN'S MEN
Queen'
s Men, Who were paid twenty shillings by the Stratford corporation to perform
in 1587, when
Shakespeare
was 23. The Queen' s Men had been formed in 1583 in a deliberate attempt
to put the best actors in London under the direct control of Queen Elizabeth
I and her Council.
Shakespeare'
s first play was the comedy, Two Gentlemen of Verona.
The
Queen' s Men also performed the plays of Robert Greene, who provides us
with another unusual piece of evidence that suggests Shakespeare was well
known in London by 1792.
William
Shakespeare was obviously successful enough to be attacked by other writers.
Within two years he had enough money to buy himself a share in the Chanberlain'
s Men, the company of actors with whom he would work for the rest of his
life.