Editing William Shakespeare (section)

===London and theatrical career===
It is not known definitively when Shakespeare began writing, but contemporary allusions and records of performances show that several of his plays were on the London stage by 1592.{{sfn|Chambers|1930a|pp=287, 292}} By then, he was sufficiently known in London to be attacked in print by the playwright [[Robert Greene (dramatist)|Robert Greene]] in his ''[[Greene's Groats-Worth of Wit|Groats-Worth of Wit]]'' from that year:

<blockquote>...&nbsp;there is an upstart Crow, beautified with our feathers, that with his ''Tiger's heart wrapped in a Player's hide'', supposes he is as well able to bombast out a blank verse as the best of you: and being an absolute ''Johannes factotum'', is in his own conceit the only Shake-scene in a country.{{sfn|Greenblatt|2005|p=213}}</blockquote>

Scholars differ on the exact meaning of Greene's words,{{sfn|Greenblatt|2005|p=213}}{{sfn|Schoenbaum|1987|p=[https://archive.org/details/williamshakespea0000scho/page/153 153]}} but most agree that Greene was accusing Shakespeare of reaching above his rank in trying to match such university-educated writers as [[Christopher Marlowe]], [[Thomas Nashe]], and Greene himself (the so-called "[[University Wits]]").{{sfn|Ackroyd|2006|p=176}} The italicised phrase parodying the line "Oh, tiger's heart wrapped in a woman's hide" from Shakespeare's ''[[Henry VI, Part 3]]'', along with the pun "Shake-scene", clearly identify Shakespeare as Greene's target. As used here, ''[[Jack of all trades, master of none|Johannes Factotum]]'' ("Jack of all trades") refers to a second-rate tinkerer with the work of others, rather than the more common "universal genius".{{sfn|Greenblatt|2005|p=213}}{{sfn|Schoenbaum|1987|p=151–153}}

Greene's attack is the earliest surviving mention of Shakespeare's work in the theatre. Biographers suggest that his career may have begun any time from the mid-1580s to just before Greene's remarks.{{sfn|Wells|2006|p=28}}{{sfn|Schoenbaum|1987|pp=144–146}}{{sfn|Chambers|1930a|p=59}} After 1594, Shakespeare's plays were performed at [[The Theatre]], in [[Shoreditch]], only by the [[Lord Chamberlain's Men]], a company owned by a group of players, including Shakespeare, that soon became the leading [[playing company]] in London.{{sfn|Schoenbaum|1987|p=[https://archive.org/details/williamshakespea0000scho/page/184 184]}} After the death of [[Elizabeth I|Queen Elizabeth]] in 1603, the company was awarded a royal patent by the new [[James VI and I|King James I]], and changed its name to the [[King's Men (playing company)|King's Men]].{{sfn|Chambers|1923|pp=208–209}}

{{Quote box|align=right|quote=<poem>
All the world's a stage,
and all the men and women merely players:
they have their exits and their entrances;
and one man in his time plays many parts&nbsp;...
</poem>
|source=—''[[As You Like It]]'', Act II, Scene 7, 139–142{{sfn|Wells|Taylor|Jowett|Montgomery|2005|p=666}}
}}

In 1599, a partnership of members of the company built their own theatre on the south bank of the [[River Thames]], which they named the [[Globe Theatre|Globe]]. In 1608, the partnership also took over the [[Blackfriars Theatre|Blackfriars indoor theatre]]. Extant records of Shakespeare's property purchases and investments indicate that his association with the company made him a wealthy man,{{sfn|Chambers|1930b|pp=67–71}} and in 1597, he bought the second-largest house in Stratford, [[New Place]], and in 1605, invested in a share of the parish [[tithes]] in Stratford.{{sfn|Bentley|1961|p=36}}

Some of Shakespeare's plays were published in [[Quarto (binding)|quarto]] editions, beginning in 1594, and by 1598, his name had become a selling point and began to appear on the [[title page]]s.{{sfn|Schoenbaum|1987|p=[https://archive.org/details/williamshakespea0000scho/page/188 188]}}{{sfn|Kastan|1999|p=37}}{{sfn|Knutson|2001|p=17}} Shakespeare continued to act in his own and other plays after his success as a playwright. The 1616 edition of [[Ben Jonson]]'s ''Works'' names him on the cast lists for ''[[Every Man in His Humour]]'' (1598) and ''[[Sejanus His Fall]]'' (1603).{{sfn|Adams|1923|p=275}} The absence of his name from the 1605 cast list for Jonson's ''[[Volpone]]'' is taken by some scholars as a sign that his acting career was nearing its end.{{sfn|Wells|2006|p=28}} The [[First Folio]] of 1623, however, lists Shakespeare as one of "the Principal Actors in all these Plays", some of which were first staged after ''Volpone'', although one cannot know for certain which roles he played.{{sfn|Schoenbaum|1987|p=[https://archive.org/details/williamshakespea0000scho/page/200 200]}} In 1610, [[John Davies of Hereford]] wrote that "good Will" played "kingly" roles.{{sfn|Schoenbaum|1987|pp=200–201}} In 1709, Rowe passed down a tradition that Shakespeare played the ghost of Hamlet's father.{{sfn|Rowe|1709|p=32}} Later traditions maintain that he also played Adam in ''[[As You Like It]]'', and the Chorus in ''[[Henry V (play)|Henry V]]'',{{sfn|Ackroyd|2006|p=357}}{{sfn|Wells|Taylor|Jowett|Montgomery|2005|p=xxii}} though scholars doubt the sources of that information.{{sfn|Schoenbaum|1987|pp=202–203}}

Throughout his career, Shakespeare divided his time between London and Stratford. In 1596, the year before he bought New Place as his family home in Stratford, Shakespeare was living in the parish of [[St Helen's Church, Bishopsgate|St Helen's]], [[Bishopsgate]], north of the River Thames.{{sfn|Hales|1904|pp=401–402}}{{sfn|Honan|1998|p=121}} He moved across the river to [[Southwark]] by 1599, the same year his company constructed the Globe Theatre there.{{sfn|Hales|1904|pp=401–402}}{{sfn|Shapiro|2005|p=122}} By 1604, he had moved north of the river again, to an area north of [[St Paul's Cathedral]] with many fine houses. There, he rented rooms from a French [[Huguenot]] named Christopher Mountjoy, a maker of women's wigs and other headgear.{{sfn|Honan|1998|p=325}}{{sfn|Greenblatt|2005|p=405}}