How did Shakespeare's working conditions affect his artistic development? Shakespeare in Company is the first book systematically to address that question, charting a series of changes in the theatrical marketplace from 1592 to 1614. Its central thesis is that the formation of the Chamberlain's Men had a transformative effect on Shakespeare's writing. Based on research into hundreds of manuscripts and plays by contemporaries, the book gives a powerful
account of the influence of actors such as Kemp, Armin, and Burbage, not simply on individual characters in Shakespeare's drama, but on the structure of his plays as a whole. It examines other writers,
including Marlowe, Jonson, and Fletcher, and offers a new account of the place of co-authorship in the playwright's career. An original picture thus emerges of Shakespeare as a theatrical collaborator, investor, poet, and performer on the English stage.