"Hamlet" was first performed, probably in 1601 at the Globe Theatre, by the Lord Chamberlain's Men. Richard Burbage took the role of Hamlet. Tradition proposes, with uncertain authority, that Shakespeare may have played the Ghost of Hamlet's father. Other actor sharers included John Heminges, Henry Condell, Thomas Pope, Augustine Phillips, Will Sly, and Robert Armin, who had joined the company in 1598 and seems to have specialized in comic roles, including probably the Gravedigger in this play.
—David Bevington