Worcester's Men
A later iteration of the company toured through the 1580s and '90s; little is known about its activities, though in 1583 it included the sixteen-year-old Edward Alleyn, at the start of his illustrious career.[1] By the start of the seventeenth century, Edward Somerset, 4th Earl of Worcester was moving up into the higher levels of the late-Elizabethan social and political structure; in April 1601 he became the Queen's Master of the Horse.The company was initially supposed to play only at the Boar's Head Inn; but by August of that year they were negotiating with Philip Henslowe.[4] In this incarnation, Worcester's Men included, at one time or another, John Lowin, actor/playwright Thomas Heywood and the famous clown Will Kempe.And in the latter part of that year Worcester's absorbed Oxford's Men, another company that had previously been active mostly as a touring troupe.