A Play with Political Voltage
In February 1601, supporters of the Earl of Essex commissioned a special performance of Shakespeare’s Richard II. The play depicts the overthrow of a monarch, and its sponsors hoped the spectacle might make audiences more receptive to rebellion against Elizabeth I.
The performance took place on 7 February, one day before Essex’s uprising. That timing brought the Lord Chamberlain’s Men under official scrutiny.
The Actors’ Explanation
Augustine Phillips gave evidence to investigators. He stated that the actors had been offered forty shillings above their usual fee and had performed the play for that reason alone. The explanation was accepted, and the company and its members were not punished.
Their political danger did not end there. On 24 February, the day before Essex’s execution, the company performed for Elizabeth at Whitehall. The queen reportedly remarked, “I am Richard II, know ye not that?”
Theatre and Power
The episode shows why drama mattered to rulers and rebels alike. A play could entertain, preserve historical memory, or become a symbolic weapon depending on who commissioned it and when it was staged.
The company survived because authorities treated its involvement as commercial rather than conspiratorial. Yet the incident exposed a permanent risk of political theatre: once actors give a story to a crowd, its meaning can escape the intentions of everyone involved.