Cuthbert and William Burbage and Winifred Robinson respond to the players' petition. They ask that they not be deprived of their livelihood 'by men so soon shot up, since it hath been the custom that they should com to it by far more antiquity and desert than those can justly attribute to themselves.' They outline the great expense and trouble James Burbage had in building first the Theatre and then the Globe. The twenty-one year lease on the Globe, they note, has been their undoing, 'for [the members of the original consortium] dying at the expiration of three or four years of their lease, the subsequent years became dissolved to strangers, as by marrying their widows, and the like by their children.' The Blackfriars, they further explain, is their inheritance; again they emphasize James Burbage's labour and expense in setting up the playhouse. They complain that 'these new men' threaten to deprive them of their livelihood; like Shanks, they point to the profits garnered by the three petitioners in the past year. They appeal, finally that they be required to part with no more than one share, and that the petitioners be directed to seek any further shares elsewhere.
| Name | Event Role(s) | Document Role(s) |
|---|---|---|
| Evans, Henry | company manager | |
| Field, Nathan | player | |
| Ostler, William | player | |
| Swanston, Elliard | player | |
| Burbage, James | playhouse owner | |
| Burbage, Cuthbert | playhouse sharer | |
| Burbage, William | playhouse sharer | |
| Robinson, Winifred | playhouse sharer | |
| Burbage, Richard | playhouse sharer | |
| Phillips, Augustine | playhouse sharer | |
| Shakespeare, William | playhouse sharer | |
| Condell, Henry | playhouse sharer | |
| Heminges, John | playhouse sharer | |
| Underwood, John | playhouse sharer |