The Earl of Leicester’s Men were the dominant adult playing company of the early Elizabethan stage before the Queen’s Men. In addition to being the leading court revels company for nearly two decades, Leicester’s Men were also responsible for mapping out the touring circuits used by later companies and for establishing the first major playhouses near London. This book details the history of this company, building on decades of established scholarship, while also offering a raft of new discoveries from primary sources. Parish records help to unlock the origins of the company within London, and this background is shown to inform the company’s responses to the circumstances that having one of the most powerful nobles of the era as a patron presented. Their stable familial and parochial networks enabled them to tour extensively while also expanding their theatrical capital closer to London. This capital allowed them to thrive as court performers and as innovators of the playhouse business.

Chapter 2 shows the company’s first tour was planned according to protocols from Mary’s reign, and relied on age-old trade routes to find their way to two locations that served Dudley’s interests. Later, as Dudley’s interests shifted and as plague, extreme weather, and floods hit their routes, the company adopted the circuits we now associate with later companies. The players’ London origins also shaped their early approach to commercial playing, performing in inns and hiring livery company halls, but hostile city authorities compelled them to look beyond London’s walls, prompting the construction of the Red Lion. Drawing on new archaeological evidence, I argue the Red Lion was designed to reflect the Great Hall at Whitehall, to give public audiences a taste of the spaces the players enjoyed at court. The plays the company adopted in the 1560s promoted Dudley’s Protestant ethos and presented characters based on the very artisans and labourers who made up their audiences and in whose midst the players lived in London.

The Earl of Leicester’s Men were the dominant adult playing company of the early Elizabethan stage before the Queen’s Men. In addition to being the leading court revels company for nearly two decades, Leicester’s Men were also responsible for mapping out the touring circuits used by later companies and for establishing the first major playhouses near London. This book details the history of this company, building on decades of established scholarship, while also offering a raft of new discoveries from primary sources. Parish records help to unlock the origins of the company within London, and this background is shown to inform the company’s responses to the circumstances that having one of the most powerful nobles of the era as a patron presented. Their stable familial and parochial networks enabled them to tour extensively while also expanding their theatrical capital closer to London. This capital allowed them to thrive as court performers and as innovators of the playhouse business.