In which theatre were most of William Shakespeare plays performed?

Answer 1

First of all, William Shakespeare was not the one responsible for staging his plays. He was a part of a company. We are not sure how they company made its decisions, but they were probably strongly influenced by Richard Burbage, the leading actor in the company, and his brother Cuthbert Burbage, who was the business manager. Shakespeare was a much less important actor and one of a number of playwrights whose plays were performed by the company. Yes, you heard me right: the company quite frequently performed plays by playwrights other than Shakespeare.

As to where the plays were performed that changed from year to year and between summer and winter. In the summertime when the weather was nice they could perform in the large outdoor theatres so long as they were not closed due to a plague outbreak. When the company The Lord Chamberlain's Men was first formed in 1594, Shakespeare had already seen some of his plays performed by various companies in different theatres. But after he was given a partnership in the Chamberlain's Men his plays were only performed by that company. The company's first home was the Newington Butts Theatre, some ways out of London, which they shared with the Lord Admiral's Men while the theatres closer to town were closed for health reasons. Then they moved to the Burbage's Theatre and that became their standard summer theatre. Due to a dispute with the landlord they moved in 1596 to The Curtain, another Burbage Theatre, and from there to the Globe which the Burbages built in 1599 and became their summer home until 1613 when it was destroyed.

In the winter, the cold and darkness caused the company to perform indoors. They performed in people's houses, in halls like the Hall of the Middle Temple where Twelfth Night was performed, and at court when requested by the monarch (or rather, the Master of the Revels, the civil servant in charge of entertaining the royalty). In 1608, the company was given a licence to perform for the public indoors at the Blackfriars Theatre, another Burbage property.

Answer 2

Shakespeare often set his plays in more than one place: Henry V starts in England then moves to France; Othello starts in Venice then moves to Cyprus; All's Well That Ends Well starts in France, moves to Italy then moves back to France. Antony and Cleopatra is almost entirely in Egypt but does have a short scene in Rome; Macbeth is mostly in Scotland but does have a scene in England as well.

Fourteen plays have scenes set in England, twelve have scenes set in Italy including four in ancient Rome, six have scenes in mythical Greece, and five are at least partly set in France. Here's the breakdown:

England: All 10 history plays, Cymbeline, King Lear, The Merry Wives of Windsor, one scene of Macbeth

Italy (Ancient): Julius Caesar, Coriolanus, Titus Andronicus, one scene of Antony and Cleopatra

Italy (Modern): Romeo and Juliet, Much Ado About Nothing, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Part of All's Well that Ends Well, Part of The Winter's Tale, The Taming of the Shrew, Part of Othello, The Merchant of Venice

Greece: Pericles, The Comedy of Errors, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Timon of Athens, The Two Noble Kinsmen, Troilus and Cressida

France: Parts of King John, Henry V and Henry VI Part I, Part of All's Well that Ends Well, Love's Labour's Lost

Austria: Measure for Measure, Part of The Winter's Tale

Scotland: Macbeth

Denmark: Hamlet

Cyprus: Part of Othello

Egypt: Antony and Cleopatra

Setting unclear: As You Like It, Twelfth Night, The Tempest

Answer 3

Shakespeare was not a producer. He was a playwright and an actor. He did not look after the day-to-day business of running the theatre company.