show their credentials

Often treated with at best suspicion and at worst disdain, the reputations of acting companies were so low that licences from lords or even the monarch were required in order for them to work. Even a company as well-known as the

Lord Chamberlain’s Men would have to show they were allowed to perform. The authorities also instructed them on how to censor certain aspects of their performance.

The Globe was the home of Shakespearean performances until it was demolished in 1642