When did Shakespeare first perform a play?

Answer 1

All we can say with certainty is that it must have been before 1592 when we have the first critical mention of any of Shakespeare's plays, by Robert Greene in a pamphlet called Greene's Groatsworth of Wit. In it Greene parodies a line from Shakespeare's Henry VI Part 3. Henslowe, in his diary, records the performance of a new play called Henry VI by Lord Strange's Men on March 3, 1591. This might well have been one of the three Henry VI plays by Shakespeare, possibly even the play Greene parodied, Part 3. The play seems to have been performed a lot after the premiere, which would have made it familiar enough to parody.

However, we cannot be sure that this is a record of the first performance of any Shakespeare play. It's just the first record we have of the performance of what looks like a Shakespeare play. Maybe some company who was not renting a theatre from Henslowe had already performed The Two Gentlemen of Verona, The Comedy of Errors or Love's Labour's Lost before March 1591. In fact, some scholars think that it is more likely than not.

Answer 2

Shakespeare's father for a time controlled the licensing of plays in the town , and so he may have taken young Will to see travelling players who were touring the country and making a stop in Stratford. But this is purely speculative.

It is also possible that he went to London thinking of another line of work altogether. The printer who printed Shakespeare's first book was a Stratford man and may have been a friend of the family. He may have introduced young Will to the world of theatre after he arrived in London. This is also purely speculative.

The truth is, we don't know. There is no record of when or how this happened.

Answer 3

We don't know; certainly before 1592 when there is the first reference to a play we know to be his. But playwrights in Shakespeare's day did not start out by writing a play, they started by writing part of a scene for another playwright, then whole scenes, then they would collaborate and eventually write plays on their own. Shakespeare may have started with George Peele, helping him with some of his plays like Edward I. Some people say that Peele helped Shakespeare write Titus Andronicus. Maybe so, maybe not. Unfortunately nobody thought it was important enough at the time to keep any records of it.

Answer 4

Whether you are asking when the first of Shakespeare's plays to be published was published or when the first play Shakespeare wrote was published, either way, Shakespeare did not publish any of his plays. That is because he did not own the rights to publish them. Those rights were turned over to his playing company along with the exclusive right to perform them. The first of Shakespeare's plays to be published were Titus Andronicus and Henry VI part II, both in 1594.

Answer 5

Shakespeare's first play was performed in 1590. The first play that was ever performed was Henry VI, and he did it in three parts.

Answer 6

shakespeare first performed his plays when he wrote them in the late 16th century and early 17th century.

Answer 7

We do not know this because a) we don't know for sure which one of his plays was first and b) we do not know when his plays were first performed.

Answer 8

Shakespeare's plays were performed shortly after they were written, which was over the course of twenty-five years or so.