“Every man out of his Humour” was first acted at the Globe in 1599. There is no record of any other company acting here, so it may well be styled Shakespeare’s Theatre. Astonishing as it may well seem to us, the truth is that no reference can be found in contemporary literature of the opening of the Globe Theatre. Surely an event of such importance must have attracted thousands of the pleasure loving populace, yet not a single member of that vast assembly jotted down a memorandum on that auspicious occasion. How we should hail with delight a contemporary criticism of the first night of “Hamlet” and a detailed account of the actor-author’s rendering of the Ghost, a part which tradition says he made his own, but these vain thoughts are the flimsy creations of an idle brain, and must be discarded for the bare facts such as we are acquainted with.
1600–1603.
Beyond performances at Courts in January, February and during Christmas, the whereabouts of this company are quite unknown. However, we may assume that they remained in London, and acted at their new theatre without intermission until the end of Elizabeth’s reign.
This period was one of great activity in Shakespeare’s life, and many of his plays found their way to the printing press. “The Merchant of Venice,” “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” and “Much Ado about Nothing” were all published for the first time in the year 1600. The date of publication may have been years after the play was first produced at the theatre; in fact, “The Merchant of Venice” is mentioned by Meres in a literary work published in 1598, and even then the play may have been written a year or two earlier.
A fair conclusion is that all these plays were revived at this period, and then success led ultimately to their publication.
THE
Tragicall Historie of
HAMLET
Prince of Denmarke
By William Shake-speare.