By the early 1590s Shakespeare had established himself as a playwright but his career was interrupted by that terrifyingly unpredictable fact of Elizabethan life-the bubonic plague. This terrible disease was spread by fleas carried by rats which thrived in the filthy living conditions of London and other cities.

TOURING COMPANIES

There was a violent outbreak in 1592-3. Public meetings (at plays, bear-baitings, bowlings and other like assemblies) were banned.

Acting companies had to apply for licences to perform outside London. They may have carried the disease with them, and neither players nor audiences in country towns could have had much enthusiasm for the entertainment.