William Shakespeare as a sign that his acting career was nearing its end. The First Folio of 1623, however, lists Shakespeare as one of "the Principal Actors in all these Plays", some of which were first staged after "Volpone", although we cannot know for certain which roles he played. In 1610, John Davies of Hereford wrote that "good Will" played "kingly" roles. In 1709, Rowe passed down a tradition that Shakespeare played the ghost of Hamlet's father. Later traditions maintain that he also played Adam in "As You Like It", and the Chorus in "Henry V", though scholars doubt the sources of
Chronology of Shakespeare's plays Classic Shakespeare, the Dover Wilson Shakespeare, the Shakespeare Folios and the Folger Shakespeare Library all publish scholarly editions of individual plays, although none have issued a complete works volume. "Arden" presents the plays alphabetically without any attempt to construct an overall chronology. "Oxford", "Riverside", "Norton" and "RSC" all present chronologies which differ from one another and which attempt to construct only approximate dating. The following list is based on that of "The Oxford Shakespeare: The Complete Works" (2nd ed.) and the accompanying "William Shakespeare: A Textual Companion" (Revised ed.), edited by Stanley Wells and Gary Taylor. However, none of the