Which year did Shakespeare's plays become famous?

Answer 1

How famous is famous? Many people in London knew about his plays when he was only about 28 years old, in 1592, when Robert Greene published a satirical pamphlet quoting from one of Shakespeare's plays. Shakespeare had probably only written three or four plays at that time, but he was making his name. At the time of his retirement in 1613, Shakespeare was probably London's best-known playwright. Although considered old-fashioned by the theatregoers of the late 17th century, by 1769 when actor/producer David Garrick staged a "Shakespeare Jubilee", Shakespeare was well on his way to being considered the greatest writer in the English language. His fame just kept growing and growing, so that nowadays there can hardly be anyone on the planet who has not heard of him and the plays he wrote.