When did William Shakespeare publish his first play?

Answer 1

We don't exactly know this because we don't exactly know which of his plays was the first, and we do not know exactly when he wrote any of his plays. We first hear of Shakespeare as a playwright in 1592 from Robert Greene, who quotes from Henry VI Part III. Assuming that he had previously written Parts one and two (and perhaps other plays which we may or may not have heard about), he might have started writing in about 1590, at which time he was 36. It might well have been earlier--we don't know how many plays he might have written which were so bad they were chucked in the garbage.
Nobody knows. Shakespeare did not keep track of when he wrote things. In any case, trainee playwrights did not start by writing whole plays. They started by writing some dialogue for other established playwrights, then whole scenes, then they would co-write the plays, and finally they would write plays on their own. Many of the playwrights of Shakespeare's day wrote in collaboration with others most of the time, including John Fletcher, who collaborated first with Francis Beaumont and later with Shakespeare, and finally became a playwright on his own.

Some of Shakespeare's early collaborations may have been with George Peele and may have included Titus Andronicus and the anonymous Edward III. They might have been written in the late 1580s or early 1590s.

Answer 2

At a writing desk.

There is speculation that he may have written in in taverns since they would provide the candles to see by and the firewood to warm himself. Some speculate that, in the early years, he wrote while at Stratford in the off season.

Answer 3

The first publication of a Shakespeare play was the Quarto Edition of Titus Andronicus in 1594. However, it was probably not published with Shakespeare's knowledge or consent. Plays did not belong to their author, the company who first performed them owned the exclusive rights. So, either the acting company authorized it or, more likely, it was a pirated, the way that some people pirate DVDs today.

Answer 4

Shakespeare wrote his first play before 1592 at which time Robert Greene parodied a line from Henry VI part 3. We do not know however, which play was Shakespeare's first, if that play still exists.

Answer 5

William Shakespeare's first play was The Two Gentlemen of Verona. It was written in 1589. His second play, The Taming of the Shrew, was written in 1590.