Life of William Shakespeare in Stratford. Samuel Schoenbaum speculates that, "Maybe Shakespeare took Knell's place and thus found his way to London and stage-land." Shakespeare's father John, as High Bailiff of Stratford, was responsible for the acceptance and welfare of visiting theatrical troupes. However, there is no direct evidence of Shakespeare's membership of the Queen's Men, so it remains speculation. Though Shakespeare is known today primarily as a playwright and poet, his main occupation was as a player and sharer in an acting troupe. How or when Shakespeare got into acting is unknown. The profession was unregulated by a guild that could have established
Nevillean theory of Shakespeare authorship Nevillean theory of Shakespeare authorship The Nevillean theory of Shakespeare authorship attributes the work of William Shakespeare to the English parliamentarian and diplomat Sir Henry Neville (1562 – 1615). It was first proposed in 2005 by Brenda James and William Rubinstein in their book "The Truth Will Out". James had set the 144 letters of the dedication to "Shakespeare’s Sonnets" (1609) in a grid of 12 vertical columns of 12 letters and performed various manipulations to find the name "Henry Nevell", a name that was unknown to her. Further investigation led her to Neville, who as ambassador to France (1600–01)