Long before Shakespeare became a household name, there was Richard Burbage. As the first actor to play Hamlet, Macbeth, Richard III, and King Lear, Burbage helped define what it meant to be a Shakespearean actor.

A commanding performer, he became one of early modern England’s first celebrities—celebrated for his emotional power and versatility, as well as his entrepreneurial savvy as an early theater owner.

In her new book "Richard Burbage and the Shakespearean Stage: A ‘Delightful Proteus,’" scholar Siobhan Keenan explores the actor’s remarkable career and his pivotal partnership with Shakespeare. Together, they transformed the English stage.

Siobhan Keenan is Professor of Shakespeare and Renaissance Literature at De Montfort University, UK, and the author of several books on early modern theatre history and performance culture, including Richard Burbage and the Shakespearean Stage: A ‘Delightful Proteus’ (2025), The Progresses, Processions and Royal Entries of King Charles I, 1625-1642 (2020), Acting Companies and their Plays in Shakespeare’s London (The Arden Shakespeare, 2014), and Travelling Players in Shakespeare’s England (2002).

From the Shakespeare Unlimited podcast. Published October 21, 2025. © Folger Shakespeare Library. All rights reserved. This episode was produced by Matt Frassica. Garland Scott is the executive producer. It was edited by Gail Kern Paster. We had help with web production from Paola García Acuña. Leonor Fernandez edits our transcripts. Final mixing services are provided by Clean Cuts at Three Seas, Inc.