Shakespeare's Role Model

I feel as if boys had actor role models to look up to within theatre. The idea that Shakespeare may have written roles especially for boys, and that the characters may have been female, may have been an inspiration to boys to take on those roles. During the eighteenth century it was mainly males who played characters on stage, and for the more comedic roles it was probably easier for boys to play the characters as they would tend to have a crack in their voice due to puberty that would add a comedic effect; especially with the younger or female characters on stage. Boy players would probably have been essential to Shakespeare’s writings as they would have been easier to create parts for. Boy players would have seen these opportunities to begin

acting careers in the theatrical world, even if these acting roles were as female characters. Beginning an acting career was one of the lower paid jobs at first however enjoyable for the actors. Boy players, I imagine, would have felt a certain level of fulfilment that they were able to take part in a theatrical performance such as one of Shakespeare’s works, with Shakespeare being a widely influential and a great theatre practitioner. However there needn’t be usually any more than six boy players in a performance, so boy players may not have been in work a lot of the time, this may have hindered their acting career. Though when on stage, I imagine they would have been fitted for the part that suited them which was most definitely a female character, a young character or both.