What was shakespeare percentage of profits from the theatre

Instead of acting out a caricature of a starving author, Shakespeare was now able to buy property and lend other people money. This also changed the trajectory of his writing, says Dr van Es, whose research has been published in a book, Shakespeare in Company. He had the financial security to develop his own literary voice and themes and no longer had the "breadline existence" of having to compromise to meet the whims of rich sponsors.

This close relationship with one theatre company allowed him to develop characters for particular favourite actors, giving him much more artistic control over how the plays might be performed. He also says that surviving play manuscripts from the Elizabethan era show how much scripts were likely to be changed. He likens it to the way a Hollywood film might be very different from the original script - and that Shakespeare was unusual in getting control of the production process.

And then there was a third balcony with cushions and a good view of the stage. This is where the third penny went into the box. Elizabeth I, Naturally it was unthinkable to force the refined society of London to make their way through the crowded galleries with the other theatregoers. That is why there were special balconies for those, who felt superior to the hoi polloi. Access to these balconies cost one shilling, which is 12 pence, and they had a separate entrance from the outside.

The audience could be charged double for premiers by the way. Their entrance fee was sixpence, and the seating ares we would call loge today cost 2 shillings and 6 pence, 30 pence as a whole, which was a treat only few people could afford.

In addition to the entrance fee, there were other things sold at the Globe. Food and drink, for instance, were allowed at all times. Apples and nuts, oysters, ginger bread and sweets were also offered, consumed and thus generated a decent pin money for the owners of the Globe.

Jacob I, Shilling undated From e-Auction Rauch 18 , Current estimations assume that the Globe Theatre had a yearly income of around 1, pounds. A gentleman could indeed make a living from this kind of income. But how much did he make? And how did he make it? Bob again, to tell us a bit about this. When they built the Globe Theatre he became a housekeeper, as well. He became not only a sharer in the profits of the performances but also a sharer in the overall profits of the company.

For quite long periods, especially after , the theatres were closed during outbreaks of plague, so that would have had an adverse effect on his income. What tended to happen was he obviously earned more money than he needed for his immediate purposes, so he was able to invest surplus income or he could borrow on credit and then repay — rather like we do with a mortgage today.

So here we have Shakespeare making money out of the theatre and not just being an actor but being a sharer in the company, too — and that seems to have been where the money was. So was this a standard thing for actors to do? Did any other actors become as wealthy as Shakespeare? Michael Dobson is the Director of the Shakespeare Institute.

Johnson gets a steady court income because he, more-or-less, becomes Poet Laureate before the job is officially invented. Thomas Middleton, who worked as City Chronologer and was very prolific, and quite canny, unfortunately, ran afoul of a sensor at the end of his career and, again, seems to have died more or less in hiding without being able to leave much.

He made some smart investments and he lived in a society where money was invested, borrowed and moved around a great deal. So no, not a huge amount of money around: money is put to good use. REID: So going back to what Shakespeare spent and bought, most of my clips today mention at least one of his investments.

Instead, Shakespeare supports a substantially wider business community - from hotels and restaurants in Stratford, to walking tours in London, bars near a balcony in the Italian city of Verona, sales of books and memorabilia, and even leadership classes for businessmen and women. Piers Ibbotson says there are so many lessons from Shakespeare about the perils and pitfalls of power that it has provided him with an inexhaustible fund of material for his management and leadership workshops over the past two decades.

Acting things out is very powerful, people can physically get inside situations. Create uses Shakespeare's plays to guide students, and business clients, through numerous difficult business situations. Macbeth, for example, is viewed as a study into the limits of ambition, while The Tempest is seen as a metaphor for a perfect storm of workplace rivalry.

Meanwhile, A Midsummer Night's Dream is used to explore business transformation, and the Merchant of Venice teaches contract enforcement. Mr Ibbotson says: "Shakespeare is such a wonderful asset and of course you're always using such powerful language - it allows people to articulate much more subtle and complex ideas than thin business language. Richard Olivier, 54, is another person who uses Shakespeare's plays to teach good leadership and business practice.

Mr Olivier adds: "There's huge drama in leadership, and Shakespeare was probably the first playwright to portray the human drama of leadership in three-dimensional form. Alisan Cole, from the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, says: ", the th anniversary of Shakespeare's birth, was our record year with , visitors, and we're expecting to be on a par with it, if not exceed it.

In terms of attracting hungry and thirsty tourists, Hathaway Cafe is perfectly positioned in the centre of Stratford, and is just a short walk from the Royal Shakespeare Theatre. Mr Allen adds that Birmingham Airport's new runway extension, which caters for the growing number of flights from East Asia, has been a fillip for the business.

In August it's mayhem - good fun, but mayhem.