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Lord Strange. The two most prestigious noblemen to give their names to such companies were undoubtedly the Lord Admiral and the Lord Chamberlain, although it must be pointed out that patronage did not provide financial security; they were not subsidised in any way by those under whose name they performed. Such official recognition did, however, give the companies real status, bringing with it regular invitations to appear at Court.
    Both companies were led by actors of exceptional ability in Edward Alleyn and Richard Burbage. The Lord Admiral’s Men were particularly associated with Henslowe and the Rose Theatre, the Lord Chamberlain’s Men with Burbage, first at The Theatre, then at the Globe. The companies were made up entirely of ‘Men’ because it was illegal for women to act on a public stage even if the ladies of the nobility regularly appeared at Court in interludes and masques, sometimes sporting costumes which elsewhere would have outraged public decency.
    They worked on a sharer’s system. Anything from half a dozen to a dozen of the most prominent people involved would put up a set sum of money, ‘a share’, in a particular company and theatre. Such sharers would include entrepreneurs such as Philip Henslowe, whose
Diaries
are one of our greatest sources of information on Elizabethan theatre, any financial backers, several of the leading actors in each company, and very possibly the wardrobe and props masters and the ‘Bookman’ or ‘Bookkeeper’ who was in charge of all the scripts, ensuring that they did not fall into the wrong hands, as well as seeing to the copying out of ‘the roles’. On occasion even a playwright could become a sharer as we know because William Shakespeare was one. Ben Jonson sought to emulate him, borrowing money from Henslowe to buy a share in the Lord Admiral’s Men, although he gave it back fairly rapidly. Jonson’s continual indebtedness to Henslowe is duly recorded in the
Diaries
.
    The average acting company consisted of fifteen actors plus half a dozen apprentices. Apart from the sharers, the rest of the actors were ‘hired men’, taken on for anything from a single performance to a whole season, and it is likely that the companies also hired in people, to work backstage, assisting with stage effects and props as these became more elaborate, and helping with dressing and make-up. The young apprentices worked hard for their keep, doing all the running around, helping with effects such as working bellows for stage smoke, playing small parts like the devils who drag Faustus down to Hell and pages to noblemen and kings, before graduating to small speaking parts such as the fated princes in
Richard III
. Finally, the most talented had their ‘three years to play’ the women’s roles.
    Having a settled base in London did not prevent actors from going out on regular tours. Leading actors from, say, the Lord Admiral’s Men would organise a tour with members of the Earl of Pembroke’s Men or Lord Strange’s Men, the temporary touring company travelling under one or other name. There were regular touring venues throughout the country such as Northampton, Coventry, Worcester, Gloucester, Shewsbury, Bristol and Exeter, but the companies would also set up and perform in the smaller towns en route. Tours took place for a variety of reasons: because a certain number of towns were used to having an annual visit from a theatre company and a loyal audience expected it; because audiences were thin on the ground in London; or when the authorities ordered the playhouses to close due either to public disorder or sickness. Not surprisingly, acting companies escaping from the plague in the plague years were quite likely to find themselves physically prevented from coming into a country town by citizens prepared to stone them out.
    Leaving London for the provinces was always a chancy business and a good many tours proved to be financial disasters, one good example being that of a