THE QUEEN’S SERVANTS
This company was formed in the year 1583. The chief actors from other companies were pressed into this new troupe of regal comedians: most of their names are known. Howe, in his edition of Stow’s Annals, published in 1615, mentions Wilson and Richard Tarlton, the former for a quiet, delicate and refined extemporal wit, and the latter for a wondrous, plentiful pleasant, extemporal wit; he was the wonder of his time.
James Burbage, the founder of the first theatre in this country, was one of the first members. The Queen’s Company frequently acted in various parts of the country, likewise at the Court, and continually in London. In the Metropolis they made The Theatre their headquarters; sometimes they acted under the management of Henslowe at the Rose. A few of the plays in their repertoire found their way into the Press, the title page stating, “As was played by the Queen Majesty’s players.” One of their playbooks was the drama called “The True Tragedy of Richard III,” a play that Shakespeare must have read or seen on the stage. Some half-dozen plays are known as belonging to this company, including the famous victories of “Henry V,” the foundation play of Shakespeare’s “Henry V.”
After the Queen’s death, in 1603, they ceased being called the Queen’s players, and those actors who formed the company at this time sought other patronage, or were transferred wholly to some distinguished nobleman. There are no grounds for believing that some of the Queen’s players found a new patron in Ludwic Stuart, Earl of Lennox, who was already patron of a company of players.