Echoes of the past: did medieval hall host the Bard?

By Matthew Woodcock, REED editor, co-editing Norwich

The Norfolk coastal town of King’s Lynn today not only boasts the largest surviving medieval Guildhall in the country – there is also compelling research suggesting Shakespeare himself performed there.

The town was a regular stopping off point on the East of England circuit for early modern drama groups, and St George’s Guildhall was one of two venues where plays were staged.

Lynn’s burgeoning economy and relative ease of access made it an attractive place for travelling players seeking paying audiences – especially during the summer months when the actors would have spent time on the roads.

There were various acting troupes performing in the provinces at this time.

From the archive records of the Lord Chamberlain's troupe of players, together with the town council (or ‘corporation’) records, we can see that King’s Lynn was visited by The Queen’s Men group of players six times in ten years between 1586 and 1596; also by the Lord Chamberlain's Men in 1586; the Earl of Essex’s Men in 1591 and the Earl of Pembroke’s Men in 1592/3.

But it is this last visit which perhaps most excites the experts. By virtue of some careful academic detective work, there are a number of compelling theories to suggest Shakespeare was himself performing as part of the Earl of Pembroke’s tour in King’s Lynn, perhaps in the first half of 1593.

We know from an entry in the King’s Lynn Hall book that the Earl of Pembroke’s players were paid 20 shillings for performing during the year of office 1592/3.

Matthew Woodcock

Details in the text of these early plays suggest that the author must have been present and in the company when these were being performed.

We also know that this group of players was a grouping of a mix of factors from different groups, and included the great Shakespearean actor Richard Burbage.

And we know that Shakespeare himself was performing in 1592 because Norwich-born writer and dramatist Robert Greene had a critical ‘dig’ at a performance – famously referring in print to Shakespeare as ‘an upstart crow’.

And we know that when a number of Shakespeare’s early plays came to be published in 1593/4 (such as Titus Andronicus; The Taming of the Shrew and Henry V1 parts 2&3) …that they were performed by Pembroke’s men too.

And, here’s the detective work – details in the text of these early plays suggest that the author must have been present and in the company when these were being performed.

There are other good reasons why Shakespeare was probably on tour. The early history plays most likely being performed commanded a large company (so he was needed on stage); it was a way of getting out of plague-stricken London that year; and he was known to be a company man – as one of the principal playwrights he might well have wanted to be with his fellow actors as they toured the provinces.

A 1594 edition of Titus Andronicus shows that the group of performers known as Pembroke’s Men had Shakespeare’s plays in their repertoire.

Indeed Shakespeare himself may well have been a member of the troupe in the early 1590s, just before he joined with the Lord Chamberlain’s Men.

The early 1590s was a hard time for many acting companies with bubonic plague forcing some of them out of London to perform in the provinces.

In 1593 this particular set of Pembroke’s Men set out on a provincial tour. Although they made some money along the way, it seems to have ended badly by the time they returned to London, according to the famous diarist of the time Philip Henslowe, who indicates that the tour had not taken off and some actors even had to pawn their costumes.

Sally-Beth MacLean, General Editor of Records of Early English Drama, writes: “When the Chamberlain's Men was first formed in late spring 1594, it is very likely that Shakespeare was indeed one of their actors, as well as a contributing playwright, possibly recruited from the remnants of Pembroke’s Men, a company known to have hit hard times the previous year.”