Actors. The actors who played adult women were boys whose voices had not yet broken.
Males
Men played every role in Shakespearean plays.
Women did not participate in Shakespearean plays. All roles, including female ones, were played by men.
Shakespeare's plays have been performed continually for most of the last 400 years, and for 350 of them (since 1660) the female parts in the plays have been played by actresses. Starting in the nineteenth century, a number of the male parts were played by actresses too. So you can tell that there have been hundreds of thousands of women who have played in Shakespeare's plays.
Yes, the young women anyway. Older women (like the Nurse in Romeo and Juliet or Volumnia in Coriolanus) could be played by adult men.
Males
Young boys played the role of women.
In Shakespeare's time, all female roles were played by young boys or men because women were not allowed to perform on stage. This was a common practice due to societal norms and restrictions at the time.
male
Men played every role in Shakespearean plays.
men
Women did not participate in Shakespearean plays. All roles, including female ones, were played by men.
Every actor plays a role.
Shakespeare's plays have been performed continually for most of the last 400 years, and for 350 of them (since 1660) the female parts in the plays have been played by actresses. Starting in the nineteenth century, a number of the male parts were played by actresses too. So you can tell that there have been hundreds of thousands of women who have played in Shakespeare's plays.
Yes, the young women anyway. Older women (like the Nurse in Romeo and Juliet or Volumnia in Coriolanus) could be played by adult men.
I believe back when they were first written the women roles where played by men because women were not allowed on stage
my mum