Lord Chamberlain's Men
The Lord Chamberlain's Men was a playing company for whom William Shakespeare wrote for most of his career. Richard Burbage played most of the lead roles, including Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, and Macbeth, while Shakespeare himself performed some secondary roles. Formed at the end of a period of flux in the theatrical world of London, it had become, by 1603, one of the two leading companies of the city and was subsequently patronised by James I.
It was founded during the reign of Elizabeth I of England in 1594, under the patronage of Henry Carey, 1st Baron Hunsdon, then the Lord Chamberlain, who was in charge of court entertainments. After its patron's death on 23 July 1596, the company came under the patronage of his son, George Carey, 2nd Baron Hunsdon, for whom it was briefly known as Lord Hunsdon's Men until he in turn also became Lord Chamberlain on 17 March 1597, whereupon it reverted to its previous name. The company became the King's Men in 1603 when King James ascended the throne and became the company's patron. The company held exclusive rights to perform Shakespeare's plays.
Read more about Lord Chamberlain's Men: Playhouses, Personnel, Repertory and Performances, Controversies
Famous quotes containing the words lord, chamberlain and/or men:
“The LORD said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain, and wait there; and I will give you the tablets of stone, with the and the commandment, which I have written for their instruction.””
—Bible: Hebrew, Exodus 24:12.
“The day of small nations has long passed away. The day of Empires has come.”
—Joseph Chamberlain (1836–1914)
“Bagehot did what so many thousand of young graduates before him had done,—he studied for the bar; and then, having prepared himself to practise law, followed another large body of young men in deciding to abandon it.”
—Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924)