Did Shakespeare visit Bristol in 1597?

By Sally-Beth MacLean, General Editor, Records of Early English Drama

In 1531, Bristol was the third largest city in England, both in terms of wealth and population.

A great overseas trading port on the River Severn, Bristol was clearly a mecca for touring entertainers – it hosted one of the country’s six great annual fairs at St James’ tide in late July, and over 100 performing troupes are known to have visited the city.

How do we know this? Well from 1531 powerful people in cities like Bristol, such as the Mayors, started to keep a record of those who were paid to perform.

These records show that Shakespeare most likely made the trip to Bristol in 1597 with the company of actors for whom he both wrote and performed. The touring company was patronised by the Lord Chamberlain, and they played in the Guildhall before the mayor for a generous reward of 30 shillings in the week of 11-17 September, 1597, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I.

By 1597, Chamberlain’s Men had many of Shakespeare’s history plays in their repertoire, including Richard II, as well as three other recent works, Romeo and Juliet, The Merchant of Venice and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Any of these might have been mounted in Bristol’s spacious hall (a late 18th century ground plan of the Guildhall notes the dimension of 100 feet from the back of the hall to the front of Small Street.)

In 1603, when King James came to power, Shakespeare’s troupe were given the royal seal of approval, and became officially known as ‘The King’s Men’.

Perhaps surprisingly, the King’s Men are recorded to have visited Bristol only twice, long after Shakespeare’s death. First in 1630 (sometime between 26 March-24 June) and the year following (between 25 June-29 September) when they were paid £2 to leave town, the same amount as the performance reward in the previous year.

‘An offer, uncle, that we will accept:
But we must win your Grace to go with us
To Bristol Castle; which they say is held
By Bushy, Bagot, and their complices,
The caterpillars of the commonwealth,
Which I have sworn to weed and pluck away.’

(Henry Bolingbroke in Richard II, Act II Sc. 3)

By Alan Somerset, Professor Emeritus, University of Western Ontario

Bans on travelling players didn't happen frequently, but they did happen…

Alan Somerset, REED

Sometimes bans were "blanket" - that is, playing was simply forbidden anywhere in a town.

Word would get around among the travelling troupes that a ban was in place, so the troupes would simply go elsewhere, somewhere where there would be a welcome.

Sometimes a restriction would be put on playing in, say, the town hall, or a prohibition against any town funds being spent on playing. Then the players could play in another venue, such as an inn.

Even in Stratford-upon-Avon (Shakespeare’s home town of course) they banned the use of town funds for performances, and any part of the Guildhall buildings or grounds, though this would not prevent players from setting up in an inn.

Why did these bans happen, in whatever form we find them? There are a number of ostensible reasons, such as town poverty (as happened in Bridgnorth) or fear of the spread of plague. But behind many of them was an unspoken motive: Puritanism. This was the reason behind events in Stratford, which had, at different times, markedly Puritan clergy.

The other thing about these bans was that they were by definition impermanent - a council, in any year, was free to amend or undo the decrees of a predecessor council. But in practice there was great continuity of personnel on councils from year to year, so changes might come about only slowly. Or a council might decide to make an exception.

It is also apparent that hostility to players became more widespread as time went on and Puritan sentiment became more widespread. Then came the Civil Wars, when Parliament banned playing altogether, everywhere...