Pembroke's Men

The Earl of Pembroke's Men was an Elizabethan era playing company, or troupe of actors, in English Renaissance theatre. They functioned under the patronage of Henry Herbert, 2nd Earl of Pembroke. Early and equivocal mentions of a Pembroke's company reach as far back as 1575; but the company is known for certain to have been in existence in 1592. In that year, a share in the company was valued at £80 (more than William Shakespeare would pay for New Place in Stratford-upon-Avon five years later).

Some think that Shakespeare spent time as both an actor and writer for Pembroke's Men in the early 1590s. Two of the earliest quarto publications of individual Shakespearean plays are both linked to this company: the title page of the earliest text of Henry VI, Part 3 (1595) states that the play was performed by Pembroke's Men, while the title page of Q1 of Titus Andronicus (1594) states that that play was acted by three companies, Pembroke's Men, Derby's Men, and Sussex's Men. The mention of three acting companies for one play is unusual; but the early 1590s were difficult years for the professional actors of the day. Severe epidemics of bubonic plague forced a halt to public performances in and around London; the actors' troupes toured the provinces, splintered and recombined, and generally did whatever was necessary to continue.

The company that toured under Pembroke's patronage in 1592 is generally considered to have been formed by personnel from Lord Strange's Men and the Lord Admiral's Men, two companies that had been working together at Philip Henslowe's Rose Theatre in 1591. The tour lasted about ten months and was a financial failure. Their tour of 1593 featured 3 Henry VI; other plays in their repertory at the time were Christopher Marlowe's Edward II, and the The Taming of a Shrew (a different version of the Shakespeare play known today). The 1593 tour was also a disappointment; a letter that Henslowe wrote to Edward Alleyn in September 1593 states that Pembroke's Men had been home from their tour for five of six weeks, and had had to pawn their costumes. The company's members struggled through, however; they were touring the provinces again in 1595 and 1596.

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