from 1948 to 1956 quayle directed at the shakespeare memorial theatre, and laid the foundations for the creation of the royal shakespeare company. his own shakespearian roles included falstaff, othello, benedick in "much ado about nothing," henry viii and aaron in "titus andronicus" with laurence olivier; he played mosca in ben jonson's "volpone"; and he also appeared in contemporary plays. he played the role of moses in christopher fry's play "the firstborn", in a production starring opposite katharine cornell. he also made an lp with cornell, in which he played the role of poet robert browning in "the barretts of wimpole street".