Shakespeare in Company

How did Shakespeare's working conditions affect his artistic development? Shakespeare in Company is the first book systematically to address that question, charting a series of changes in the theatrical marketplace from 1592 to 1614. Its central thesis is that the formation of the Chamberlain's Men had a transformative effect on Shakespeare's writing. Based on research into hundreds of manuscripts and plays by contemporaries, the book gives a powerfulaccount of the influence of actors such as Kemp, Armin, and Burbage, not simply on individual characters in Shakespeare's drama, but on the structure of his plays as a whole. It examines other writers, including Marlowe, Jonson, and Fletcher, and offers a new account of the place of co-authorship in theplaywright's career. An original picture thus emerges of Shakespeare as a theatrical collaborator, investor, poet, and performer on the English stage.

Bart van Es is Lecturer in English at the University of Oxford and a Fellow of St Catherine's College. He has previously written books on Edmund Spenser and has a special interest in the writing of history in the Renaissance. Shakespeare in Company is his first work on drama and was supported by the award of an AHRC Fellowship.

Prologue: Shakespeare's Early Life and the Origins of Commercial Theatre (1576-1592)
Phase I: Shakespeare as Conventional Poet-Playwright (1592-1594)
1. Imitation and Identity
2. The Working Conditions of the Playwright
3. Shakespeare as Literary Playwright
Phase II: Shakespeare as Company Man (1594-1599)
4. Control over Casting
5. The Events of 1594
6. Relational Drama
7. Shakespeare's Singularity
Phase III: Shakespeare as Playhouse Investor (1599-1608)
8. The Globe Partnership
9. Robert Armin
10. The Children's Companies
11. Richard Burbage
Phase IV: Shakespeare in the Company of Playwrights Again (1608-1614)
12. The Events of 1608
13. Shakespeare's Late Style
14. Shakespeare and Co-Authorship
Conclusion
Appendix