the actors in shakespeare's company included richard burbage, will kempe, henry condell and john heminges. burbage played the leading role in the first performances of many of shakespeare's plays, including "richard iii", "hamlet", "othello", and "king lear". the popular comic actor will kempe played peter in "romeo and juliet" and dogberry in "much ado about nothing", among other parts. he was replaced around the turn of the 16th century by robert armin, who played roles such as touchstone in "as you like it" and the fool in "king lear". little is certainly known about acting styles. critics praised the best actors for their naturalness. scorn was heaped on ranters and on those who "tore a passion to tatters", as hamlet has it. also with hamlet, playwrights complain of clowns who improvise on stage (modern critics often blame kemp in particular in this regard). in the older tradition of comedy which reached its apex with richard tarlton, clowns, often the main draw of a troupe, were responsible for creating comic by-play. by the jacobean era, that type of humor had been supplanted by verbal wit.