King's Men

King's Men, company of actors known as the Chamberlain's Men until they received their new name on the accession of James I in 1603. They remained in their own theatre, the Globe, which they rebuilt after a fire in 1613, and continued to appear in the plays of Shakespeare, a member of the company, as they were written, their chief actor Richard Burbage usually playing the leading parts. On his death in 1619 his place was taken by Joseph Taylor, who with John Lowin also replaced Heminge and Condell as business managers. Among the plays produced by the King's Men before the death of Shakespeare in 1616 were Philaster (c.1610) by Beaumont and Fletcher and Webster's The Duchess of Malfi (1614). Other notable events in the company's history were the taking over of the second Blackfriars in 1608 for use as a winter indoor theatre, and the publication in 1623 of the First Folio of Shakespeare's plays. The following year saw the production of Middleton's A Game at Chess, a popular success which gave offence to the Spanish Ambassador. The players were admonished and fined and the play shelved. On the death of James I in 1625 the company came under the patronage of his son Charles I, who with his queen continued the interest shown in them by his father. Among their later dramatists were Massinger and Shirley. From the time of their foundation they were the leading London company, their only serious rival being the company under Alleyn at the Fortune. In spite of growing Puritan opposition they continued to act at the Globe until in 1642 all the theatres were closed and the company disbanded.