Describe the acting profession in Shakespeare's day?

Answer 1

Acting in Shakespeare's day was an uncertain business as it is now. Most actors were hired and could be fired at any time. Even those who were part of a company, as Shakespeare was, only made a living if the company was doing well. If the theatres were closed due to plague, the companies could not get the big London audiences, and could barely make ends meet performing to smaller country audiences. After the long plague closure of 1593, many companies went bankrupt and had to sell their costumes and scripts. Actors worked hard, six days a week, performing a different play every day. It was not like modern stage actors who get into a long run playing the same play every night. Elizabethan actors had to have dozens of plays stage-ready at any time. Henslowe's diary tells us that among the twenty or thirty different plays they would put on in a month were two world premieres. Every month! The actors needed their mornings and evenings to learn and perfect these new plays, to plan what they would perform in the future, to think about repairs that might be needed to costumes or props, to decide whether the theatre they were in was adequate to their needs, and general money management. In the winter, the company would perform in private houses and at court because it was too cold to use the outdoor theatres. The revenue from these performances would be different from that in the summer.