Who were the Actors who played in Shakespeare's plays?

Answer 1

In the First Folio there is a list of Actors who were with the King's Men, including Richard Burbage, Will Kempe, Robert Armin, John Heminges, Henry Condell and of course Shakespeare himself. This list can be found on the related links.

This list can be added to because sometimes the publishers of the plays made a mistake and put in the actor's name instead of the character's name.

Answer 2

The names of many actors who appeared in Shakespeare's plays during his lifetime are set out in the First Folio, the first omnibus volume of his plays. These actors included Shakespeare himself, Richard Burbage, who played the leads, Robert Armin and Will Kempe, who played comedy parts, William Sly, Henry Condell and John Heminges, Augustine Phillips, Thomas Pope, Richard Cowley, Alexander Cooke (may have played female parts), Nathan Field, John Underwood, Nicholas Tooley, John Lowin, and William Ostler.

Over the years many, many actors and actresses have played in Shakespeare plays, far too many to enumerate here.

Answer 3

The main lead actor and artistic director was Richard Burbage. Richard's brother Cuthbert Burbage was the manager of the company. Will Kempe was the clown earlier on, but he was later replaced by Robert Armin. John Heminges and Henry Condell were actors who were particular friends of Shakespeare's, and who later arranged for the publication of his plays in a one-volume set. There was a man called John Sinklo (maybe Sinclair?) who played skinny men. There were a series of boys who played the female leads, the most memorable of whom is Christopher Beeston.

There is a list of actors who played in Shakespeare's plays from the First Folio, the one-volume set of Shakespeare's plays published by Heminges and Condell. Shakespeare is at the head of the list only because the book is about his plays: he was a bit player, who favoured "royal parts" like the ghost in Hamlet, or Henry IV in the Henry IV plays. He did not play the lead roles--that was Burbage.

In a related link you can look at that page.

Answer 4

In his early career he may have worked with a number of theatrical companies, but after 1594 he stayed with the same group. They were originally called the Lord Chamberlain's Men but when the patronage of the company was taken over by King James in 1603, they became the King's Men. Richard Burbage, John Heminges, Henry Condell, Will Kempe, Augustine Phillips, and Robert Armin were some of the better-known members of the company apart from Shakespeare himself.

Answer 5

The most famous actor of Shakespeare's day were Edward Alleyn, who was the lead actor of the Lord Admiral's Men and its various subsequent incarnations. Alleyn was particularly famous for his interpretations of leading roles in Christopher Marlowe's plays (which were owned by that company), although he took the leading roles in whatever plays they performed.

The second most famous actor was Richard Burbage, the leading man for Shakespeare's company and the first actor to play most of Shakespeare's leading roles.

Famous clowns or comedians included Richard Tarleton of Queen Elizabeth's Men, George Attewell of the Admiral's Men, Will Kempe, originally with the Lord Chamberlain's Men and later with Worcester's Men, and Robert Armin, who replaced Kempe.

Actors often switched companies or retired and new actors arose, so the personnel changed constantly. Some of the members of the Lord Chamberlain's Men, apart from Shakespeare, Burbage, Kempe and Armin were John Heminges, Henry Condell, Augustine Phillips, Thomas Pope, George Bryan, William Sly, Richard Cowley, John Lowine, Samuel Cross, Alexander Cook, Samuel Gilbourne, William Ostler, Nathan Field, John Underwood, Nicholas Tooley, William Ecclestone, Joseph Taylor, Robert Benfield, Robert Gough, Richard Robinson, John Shank and Christopher Beeston.

Some of the members of the Admiral's Men apart from Alleyn and Attewell were Edward Juby, Thomas Downton, James Tunstall, Richard Jones, John Singer, Martin Slater, Thomas Towne, William Bird, Samuel Rowley, Charles Massey, Humphrey Jeffes, and Anthony Jeffes.

Worcester's Men was the third most important playing company of Shakespeare's day, and included, apart from Kempe, such actors as Thomas Heywood (also famous as a playwright), Christopher Beeston and John Duke (both formerly of the Chamberlain's Men) and John Lowin, (later a member of the Chamberlain's Men).

Later in Shakespeare's career, a company called Lady Elizabeth's Men was formed from former child actors who were now adults and which included a number of actors who would go on to act with the King's Men, as Shakespeare's company was now known, including Nathan Field, William Ecclestone, Joseph Taylor, and Robert Benfield, as well as others such as Emanuel Read and Thomas Basse. After Shakespeare's death this company was managed by the ubiquitous Christopher Beeston, who probably started playing leading female roles with The Chamberlain's Men when in his teens.

Answer 6

They were called the Lord Chamberlain's Men and later the King's Men and included Richard Burbage, Will Kempe, Robert Armin, John Heminges and Henry Condell.

Answer 7

ytfg;l;;