Shakespeare Company, 1594–1642

This is the first complete history of the theatre company, created in 1594, which in 1603 became the King's Men. Shakespeare was at the heart of the team of players, who with their successors ran an operation that lasted until the theatres closed in 1642. During those forty-eight years they staged all of Shakespeare's plays, a number of Ben Jonson's, those of Thomas Middleton and John Webster, and almost all of the Beaumont and Fletcher canon. Andrew Gurr provides a comprehensive history of the company's activities. A chapter on their finances explains the unique management system they adopted and two chapters study the fashions in their repertory and the complex relationships with their royal patrons. The 6 appendixes identify the 99 players who worked in the company and the 168 plays they are known to have owned and performed, as well as the key documents from the company's history.

'Andrew Gurr's The Shakespeare Company, 1594–1642 fills an enormous gap … an important reference work, and a book necessary for every serious scholar of theatre history, Shakespeare and Shakespeare's milieu.' Around the Globe, '... comprehensive ... Andrew Gurr has written a definitive and most appealing work, which frequently glitters with the author's own love of theater and its members.' Renaissance Quarterly, 'An eminent scholar, Gurr brings both a refined (and colossal) body of research and sage insight into this magnificent achievement. He offers a richly detailed, pleasantly readable case study ... Essential.' P. D. Nelson, Choice, 'Gurr doesn't explicitly say that the 'company versions' are better than that habitual overwriter Shakespeare's maximal versions. But the stakes in the argument are high – our vision of what we value most in Shakespeare, why we value it, and the notion of value itself. And so, in addition to being grateful to Gurr for the wealth of historical detail of Shakespeare's company, we are in debt to him for provoking anew this important argument.' The Wilson Quarterly

Andrew Gurr is Emeritus Professor of English at the University of Reading. As chief academic advisor, he was a key figure in the project to rebuild Shakespeare's Globe Theatre in London. His many publications include Shakespeare's Opposites, The Admiral's Company 1594–1625, The Shakespearean Stage 1574–1642, 4th edition (2009) and Playgoing in Shakespeare's London, 3rd edition (2004). Professor Gurr regularly contributes articles on Shakespeare to publications ranging from Shakespeare Survey to the Times Literary Supplement.