Henslowe was originally a dyer by trade, and was unusual among theatre managers of the day in never having been an actor. He built the Rose Theatre in Southwark in 1587, presumably as an extension of his earlier financial enterprises, which included starch making and money-lending. His career as a theatre manager appears to have taken off in 1592, when his stepdaughter married Edward Alleyn the actor. Henslowe's primary connection to his theatres was financial and administrative rather than artistic; he took a percentage of the ticket sales, and his account books for 1593-1603 (known as his 'Diary') also record payments for licences, costumes, and to playwrights. His 'Inventory' (of costumes, properties etc.) of 1598 also survives.

( Pembroke 's 1597; Admiral's 1597-1602), possibly also a playwright.

Admiral's- Prince Henry 's-Palsgrave's 1594-1618, sharer

Born in Hertfordshire, it is unclear where Chapman received the classical education which enabled him eventually to translate both Homer and Hesiod; there is no record of his taking a degree at either Oxford or Cambridge. Like Jonson, he may have been involved in military campaigns in the Netherlands. After the execution of Essex , who had been his first patron, he eventually became a member of the household of Henry , Prince of Wales until the latter's death in 1612. As a poet, he published (among other works) Ovid's banquet of sense (1595) and a continuation of Marlowe's unfinished Hero and Leander (1598), but he is chiefly remembered for his translation of the Iliad (1598) and the Odyssey (1614); he also translated Hesiod's Georgics (1618). Chapman collaborated with Jonson and Marston on East. Ho! (1604), and like them was briefly imprisoned for his involvement. His best-known play was Bussy D'Ambois ( c . 1604).