Shakespeare in performance works were plundered for these scenes. Among the drolls taken from Shakespeare were "Bottom the Weaver" (Bottom's scenes from "A Midsummer Night's Dream") and "The Grave-makers" (the gravedigger's scene from "Hamlet"). At the Restoration in 1660, Shakespeare's plays were divided between the two newly licensed companies: the King's Company of Thomas Killigrew and the Duke's Men of William Davenant. The licensing system prevailed for two centuries; from 1660 to 1843, only two main companies regularly presented Shakespeare in London. Davenant, who had known early-Stuart actors such as John Lowin and Joseph Taylor, was the main figure establishing some continuity with
Lysander (A Midsummer Night's Dream) Lysander (A Midsummer Night's Dream) Lysander is a fictional character in William Shakespeare's play "A Midsummer Night's Dream". A handsome young man of Athens, Lysander is in love with Egeus's daughter Hermia. However, Egeus does not approve of Lysander and prefers his daughter to marry a man called Demetrius. Meanwhile, Hermia's friend Helena has fallen in love with Demetrius. When Hermia is forced to choose between dying, never seeing a man again or marrying Demetrius, she and Lysander run away into the forest. After Lysander is put under Puck's spell, being mistaken for Demetrius he falls in love with Helena.