There is little evidence for Shakespeare's London career. Between 1592 and 1594, when the theatres were frequently closed because of the plague, he wrote his earliest poems Venus
and Adonis and The
Rape of Lucrece. They were published in 1593 and 1594 respectively, and dedicated to his patron the 3rd Earl of Southampton. The chronology of Shakespeare's early plays is very difficult to determine. His first plays have been dated to 1590 or even earlier, when he may have been a member of the Queen's Men. Shakespeare was probably a founder member of the Lord
Chamberlain's Men, the acting company established under the patronage of Henry Carey, 1st Lord Hunsdon, in 1594. He is first mentioned as a leading member of that company in the accounts of the Treasurer of the Queen's Chamber in March 1595, when he and others received payment for performances at court during the Christmas period of 1594-1595. He was both a player and a shareholder in the company, as well as its leading dramatist. Shakespeare wrote the majority of the 37 plays which are now accepted as his, as well as collaborating on several more, between 1594 and 1613. As an actor, he was associated with the parts of kings and old men. His roles may have included the Ghost in Hamlet and old Adam in As
You Like It.

Handwriting
thought to
be Shakespeare's,
in a manuscript
play. The
Book of Sir
Thomas Moore,
British Library,
Harley MS.
7368, f.9. Larger
image
According to the records of the parish of St Helen's in Bishopsgate, Shakespeare was living in the area at some date before October 1596. Other records indicate that between the winter of 1596-1597 and 1599 he had moved to the Liberty of the Clink in Southwark. His move may have coincided with the closure of the Theatre in Shoreditch and the opening of the Globe on Bankside. Shakespeare is named in the 1599 lease for the Globe, the new playhouse built by the Lord Chamberlain's Men from the dismantled timbers of the Theatre. Many of Shakespeare's greatest plays were written for this open-air playhouse.
Elizabeth
I died in
1603 and
was succeeded
by James
VI of Scotland,
as James
I. The Lord
Chamberlain’s
Men became
the King’s
Men soon
after the
new king
reached London,
and Shakespeare’s
name appears
prominently
in the company’s
royal Patent.
The company
enjoyed the
new king’s
favour and
played regularly
at court
for several
years. In
1608, the
King’s
Men acquired
an indoor
theatre at
Blackfriars,
and from
1609 they
played there
as well as
at the Globe.
This new
indoor theatre,
as well as
the company’s
appearances
at court,
may have
influenced
Shakespeare’s
last plays.
In 1613,
Shakespeare
bought a
gatehouse
in Blackfriars.
This was
the first
property
he had acquired
in London,
and was probably
an investment
since he
seems not
to have lived
there. The
burning of
the Globe
in 1613 may
have affected
Shakespeare’s
future plans,
even though
the playhouse
was quickly
rebuilt.
By 1613,
his activity
as a poet
and dramatist
was over,
and he had
apparently
returned
to live in
Stratford-upon-Avon
where he
died less
than 3 years
later.