Beeston's formation of the Young Company was an attempt to recover that training function – as well as to provide effective drama while paying relatively less in actors' salaries.
(A similar attempt to form a boy's company had been made eight years previously, in 1629, by Richard Gunnell, who built the Salisbury Court Theatre.
)[1] The King and Queen's Young Company was onstage in early 1637, and was a hit; they and their reputation quickly entered public consciousness under their popular nickname.
[3] Beeston already had an immense amount of experience in the theatre profession from managing these companies and he also had the copyright to many of the plays performed at the Phoenix, which was very unordinary at the time.
[5] The last play, The Court Beggar, got Beeston's Boys in a severe amount of trouble that resulted in William Davenant taking over the theatre for an interim time.
By possessing such a large repertoire, the Beeston's Boys were able to quickly get up and running and compete with such acting companies like the Queen's Men.
Some veterans from Queen Henrietta's Men, the previous occupants of Beeston's Cockpit Theatre, joined the new group: Ezekiel Fenn, a boy player experienced in female roles; Theophilus Bird; Robert Axell; John Page; and George Stutfield, who apparently moved from performance to management.
During the long hiatus of theatre due to the bubonic plague, Beeston was planning a new company to inhabit the Phoenix, without the permission of the Lord Chamberlain.
"Now running a company of youths...enjoying the Lord Chamberlain’s direct support, and retaining all the old Queen’s Men’s rich repertoire, Beeston’s position was strong indeed" (Butler 113).
[8] In 1640 Beeston's Boys acted a play that offended King Charles I personally, by referring to his failure to suppress the Scottish Presbyterians during his recent expedition to the north.
Thanks to the decades-long career of their founder, the Beeston's Boys had a rich repertory of stage plays to draw upon, including works by the best playwrights of the Caroline age.
In the midst of this activity, William Beeston paid for repairs to the Cockpit Theatre and attempted to gather together a group of "apprentices and covenant servants" to train them for the stage.