This book is a comprehensive study of the customary practices of English players of the period--how they lived and worked and were paid, organized, and cast for parts in the phenomenally popular theaters of England. Gerald Bentley discusses sharers, hired men, boy apprentices, musicians, touring groups, and managers, showing that players in general led difficult but seriously professional lives. Originally published in 1984. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.