Sometime after he started working as an actor on the London stage, Shakespeare began writing plays. We don't know which plays he wrote first. Comedy of Errors was based on the Roman comic writer Plautus, and Titus Andronicus was patterned on the tragic playwright Seneca, both sources Shakespeare would have known from his schooldays. However, the first of his plays which have come down to us was his histories, such as shown here. These plays, vigorous in their action and language, traced the unrest during the Hundred Years War and the War of the Roses in England during the 1400's. Because of the recent defeat of the Spanish Armada, English audiences were eager to learn more about their past. These highly popular plays established the base for Shakespeare's success. He was able to turn his hand to many different kinds of dramas over the next 23 years of his career. Throughout that period he continued to act in selected roles, according to legend often taking the roles of the kings.

Shakespeare acted with and wrote for several companies before he joined with other actors to form the Lord Chamberlain's Men. They soon became the premiere acting group in London, and Shakespeare wrote most of the plays they performed. The principal partner with Shakespeare was Richard Burbage, whose father had built the original Theatre. It was for Burbage that Shakespeare wrote the lead roles in both comedies and tragedies.

[For more information on Burbage see the section on Shakespeare's life.]

John Lowin was another actor with the King's Men. He apparently played the role of Shakespeare's greatest comic creation, Sir John Falstaff and may have portrayed the Nurse in Romeo and Juliet as well.

Nathan Field was a teenaged actor who specialized in playing female roles in Shakespeare's plays. It is not clear when he joined the company, so we are not sure if he was the original Juliet. When Shakespeare retired from the company, Field replaced him as a partner.