Robert Armin was an English actor, and member of the Lord Chamberlain's Men. He became the leading comedy actor with the troupe associated with William Shakespeare following the departure of Will Kempe around 1600. Also a popular comic author, he wrote a comedy, The History of the Two Maids of More-clacke, as well as Foole upon Foole, A Nest of Ninnies (1608) and The Italian Taylor and his Boy.
Title page of Armin's The History of the two Maids of More-Clacke, 1609. The woodcut shows Armin onstage.
The Lord Chamberlain's Men was a company of actors, or a "playing company", for which William Shakespeare wrote during most of his career. Richard Burbage played most of the lead roles, including Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, and Macbeth. Formed at the end of a period of flux in the theatrical world of London, it had become, by 1603, one of the two leading companies of the city and was subsequently patronized by James I.
Print, based on Hollar's 1644 Long View of London, of the 1614 second Globe Theatre
Memorial to Tudor actors buried in Shoreditch church – including James Burbage and his sons, Richard Burbage and Cuthbert Burbage, among others