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1Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches2Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errors3Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteWomen were excluded from Shakespeare’s professional English acting companies by theatrical custom, not by a known law banning them from the stage. The exact reason for the custom is unknown. Boys and young men played women’s roles, while women performed in other settings and worked in theatre businesses. The year 1660 marks a return to the public stage; a royal warrant specifying women for female roles followed in 1662.
Why did boys play women in Shakespeare’s plays?
In Shakespeare’s professional English theatre, acting companies had no women actors, so boys or young men performed the female parts. The practice was a custom of the public stage, not proof that women never performed at all. The Folger Shakespeare Library’s account of Shakespeare’s theatre describes the companies’ use of boys in women’s roles.
The reason the custom took hold is not settled. Oxford University Professor of Shakespeare Studies Emma Smith, quoted by the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC), says there was “no formal prohibition” and “no legal problem”; she characterizes the exclusion as an ingrained cultural norm. That is a modern scholar’s explanation, not a surviving rule from Shakespeare’s time. The RSC also says the precise reason is unknown, and a scholarly chapter from Cambridge University Press treats explanations of gender and theatre as interpretations rather than a definitive answer.
Was it illegal for women to act in Shakespeare’s time?
The sources cited here do not establish a law explicitly prohibiting women from acting in Shakespeare’s professional public theatre. The distinction matters: a powerful convention can exclude people without a statute requiring it. It is more accurate to describe women as customarily absent from the professional companies than to say a law banned them from Shakespeare’s stage.
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Did women perform in other settings?
Yes. Women’s absence from the professional public acting companies did not mean women were absent from theatrical life. The Folger notes women’s participation in court masques and household plays. The RSC also discusses women performing in masques, street entertainment and rope dancing, as well as women’s work in theatre businesses, including costume making and finance. These settings were distinct from membership in Shakespeare’s professional acting companies.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What changed in 1660—and what happened in 1662?
The dates refer to separate milestones. Public theatres had been closed in 1642 and revived after the Restoration of Charles II in 1660. The Folger dates a woman’s performance as Desdemona in Othello to December 8, 1660. Its account notes that Charles II and royalists returning from exile in France were familiar with women performing on European stages; this provides context for the change, but does not establish a single cause.
In 1662, Charles II issued a royal warrant directing that women, rather than boy actors, play female roles, according to the RSC. That warrant should not be confused with the 1660 Desdemona performance: one is a recorded performance milestone, the other a later royal direction.
Thomas Jordan’s prologue for the 1660 Othello performance presented the change as a novelty: “The Woman playes to day, mistake me not, / No Man in Gown, or Page in Petty-Coat;”. Its wording underscores how unusual a woman playing the role was to the audience being addressed.
Quick Recap
Sources and further reading
- Folger Shakespeare Library: “Shakespeare’s Theater: From the Folger Shakespeare Editions”
- Royal Shakespeare Company: “Women on stage”
- Georgianna Ziegler, Folger Shakespeare Library: “The First English Actresses” (January 22, 2019)
- Cambridge University Press: “Why Did the English Stage Take Boys for Actresses?”
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