ABSTRACT
Just as we cannot be certain when Doctor Faustus was written, so we cannot say which company first performed it. What we do know is that in 1594, when it was no longer a new play, Edward Alleyn and the Admiral’s men were acting it with great success at the Bankside theatre called the Rose. It remained in demand throughout the 1590’s, and the indications are that it never completely lost its popularity before the closing of the theatres by the Puritans on the outbreak of the Civil War in 1642. At all events, Prince Charles’ men were playing it at the Fortune theatre a year or so prior to that event. It was even exported: a touring company of English actors took it to Austria in 1608.
