William of Stratford part 4: ‘With Mirth and Laughter Let Old Wrinkles Come.’

**Philip Rowe** (0:09)
Welcome to the History of European Theatre podcast, and thanks for joining me on this journey through millennia of theatrical history. Episode 122, William of Stratford, Part 4 With mirth and laughter, let old wrinkles come.
Last time, I took the biography of Shakespere up to the formation of the playing troupe for whom he would write all of his major plays, The Lord Chamberlain's Men, and on to his early success as a playwright in London, so without further ado, I'll now complete the biography of William of Stratford, from where he reaches the pinnacle of success through to his death after years of retirement.
Shakespeare's rise as part of The Lord Chamberlain's Men is found in a few of the records that we have. He is mentioned as an actor in the company for the 1594 Christmas celebrations at court, as I mentioned last time. That document lists him in the same breath as Will Kemp, who was already well known and the acknowledged successor of Tarleton, suggesting that Shakespere was also a leading player for the company. Apart from traditions that I have already mentioned before, we know nothing else about Shakespeare's acting career. But as an actor, the leading writer for the company and a sharer, it's surely Shakespeare's DNA that runs through The Lord Chamberlain's Men. He was not a jobbing playwright in the sense of a green or a decker, scraping a living where he could, but, it would seem, a man invested in that particular group of players and their performances of, in many cases, his own plays. Again, we don't know for sure, but it seems unthinkable that Shakespere wouldn't have been involved in the original staging of the plays, and that the principal players of the company would not also have made their own contribution to the development of the plays in rehearsal.
On 28th December 1594, The Comedy of Errors was performed at Grey's Inn as part of their Christmas celebrations. Although the record is not explicit, it seems likely that it was the Chamberlain's Men who were performing Shakespeare's play. This was the first Christmas after a serious visitation of the plague, and evidently the audience of young gentry engaged in their studies for the bar were more than over-enthusiastic about the party season. A description from the Gesto Greyorum, a published account of the entertainments held at Grey's Inn that Christmas, reports how the ambassador for the inner temple ...came about nine o'clock at night, when the ambassador was placed, and there there was something to be performed for the delight of the beholders. There arose such a disordered tumult and crowd upon the stage, that there was no opportunity to affect that which was intended. The Lord Ambassador and his train thought that they were not so kindly entertained, as was before expected, and thereupon would not stay any longer. After their departure, the throngs and the tumults did somewhat subside, although so much of them continued, as was able to disorder and confound any good inventions whatsoever. In regard whereof, as also for that the sports intended were especially for the gracing of the Templarians, it was thought good not to offer anything of account saving dancing and reveling with gentle women, and after such sports, a comedy of errors, like flautas, his Menachmus, was played by the players. So that night was begun and continued to the end in nothing but confusion and errors, whereupon it was ever afterwards called the Night of Errors.
It is noticeable, particularly in early Shakespere plays, how often references are made to the legal profession, and how much legal language is used, suggesting an influence from the Inns of Court, which remained a source of income for the players and, next to the public playhouses, perhaps the second most popular place in London for players to be seen.
Players were also known to attend special occasions and make special performances for them. A Midsummer Night's Dream, it has been suggested, was created for a wedding celebration. In this case, the size of the cast would certainly have meant that the Chamberlain's Men would have had to recruit additional players for the performance. The Merry Wives of Windsor is likely to have been written for the ceremony where Lord Hudson, the Lord Chamberlain himself, was made Knight of the Garter, a ceremony that took place in Windsor Castle, as it still does today. I'll look further at the possible settings for the original production of these plays when we get to discuss them in detail.
I've already mentioned in previous episodes author Francis Meres, who in 1598 produced a work that included commentary on Shakespere, proving positive but not completely accurate dating for the early plays. But it is such an important comment on the history of Shakespere that I'll mention it again here. The quote goes, As Plutus and Seneca are accounted the best for comedy and tragedy among the Latins, so Shakespere among the English is the most excellent in both kinds for the stage. For comedy, witness his Gentleman of Verona, his Errors, his Love's Labour's Lost, his Love's Labour's One, his Midsummer Night's Dream and his Merchant of Venice.