The Earl of Sussex's Men was a playing company or troupe of actors in Elizabethan and Jacobean England, most notable for their connection with the early career of William Shakespeare.
[1] Thomas Radclyffe, 3rd Earl of Sussex was one of the most powerful aristocrats during the middle years of Queen Elizabeth's reign; he was named Lord Chamberlain in 1572.
[2] Given their patron's status, it is not surprising that Sussex's Men played at Court several times in this period, most often during the Christmas holidays.
Their repertory consisted of anonymous and now-lost plays that are known only by their titles: The Red Knight, The Cruelty of a Stepmother, and Murderous Michael are three examples.
[5] It was in the winter of 1593–94, during an especially difficult epidemic of bubonic plague, that Sussex's Men achieved their greatest prominence and importance.
Because of the plague, the London theatres were closed almost continuously for two years, from the summer of 1592 to the spring of 1594; during the cold months of winter, however, the plague tended to abate, and theatrical manager and promoter Philip Henslowe was able to open his Rose Theatre for truncated winter seasons in both years.
Again, their repertory consisted mostly of anonymous and now-lost plays, like Richard the Confessor, King Lud, Abraham and Lot, and The Fair Maid of Italy — though they also performed the extant George a Greene (published 1599) four times.