ABSTRACT
Like Pembroke’s Men, the history of Sussex’s Men is fraught with uncertainty.
Although one of the longest-lived Elizabethan playing companies, frustratingly
little evidence survives concerning who Sussex’s players were, or what plays they
performed. The dearth of evidence is particularly disconcerting because Sussex’s
Men on more than one occasion found itself at or near the center of theatrical
activity; accordingly, Sussex’s role on these occasions can only be guessed at. Yet
what evidence does survive for Sussex’s Men is less equivocal than the surviving
evidence for Pembroke’s Men. For instance, the evidence relating to Sussex’s Men
does not deal with issues like actor names and quarto-folio relationships. As a result,
the circumstantial evidence suggesting Shakespeare’s presence in Sussex’s Men is
clear enough, but there is too little of it to allow for anything more than vague claims
of possibility.
