What play did Shakespeare's write in response to the boy players?

Answer 1

Shakespeare did not write a play specifically to respond to the increased popularity of the boys' company the Children of the Chapel starting in 1600 or so. He did not involve himself in the topical comment or satire of other writers which is found in plays by Jonson, Marston, Dekker and so on in such plays as Poetaster and Satiromastix, some of which were actually performed by the Children of the Chapel. The furthest Shakespeare went in this direction was to insert a scene in Hamlet where Hamlet, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern discuss how the popularity of the Children has forced the adult company to go on tour, a less profitable enterprise. This forms part of the overlong Act II Scene 2. Shakespeare snarks at his satiric and quarrelsome contemporaries with Guildenstern's line, "Oh, there has been much throwing about of brains."

However, this scene is a throwaway. It could be cut from the play with no damage done. Hamlet was not written for the purpose of complaining about the Children of the Chapel.