THE ORIGINAL COMPANY - tHE ORIGINAL COMPANY WAS CALLED CHAMBERLAIN'S MEN THEN IT WAS CALLED THE KINGS MEN AND FINALLY IT WAS CALLED SHAKESPEARE'S ACTING COMPANY - THE ORIGINAL COMPANY CONSISTED OF JUST MEN AS UNTIL 1660 WOMEN WERE NOT ALlowed TO PerFORM IN PUBLIC THEATERS SO MEN HAD TO PLAY THE FEMALE ROLES - mAJORITY OF THE TIME THE COMPANY PLAYED IN A THEATER BASED IN LONDON, ENGLAND BUT TRAVELED WHEN THE PLAGUE struck AND THE THEATER HAD TO BE CLOSED DOWN - THE COMPANY OPERATED AS A SHAREHOLDER SYSTEM - ThE actors were paid in shillings and made the most money when in the london, england THEATER - plays were performed during the day as they required natural light because they did not have artificial lighting - the company had 8 actors (seniors and young boys) plus they had hired actors, stage hands and musicians - There were not many copies of the plays so the actors were given their lines with a cue (usually the cue would be the last word of the other character's part before them) - because the company had few actors, shakespeare knew who was going to play who, so he was able to shape the characters based on the actors strong suits