 John Rice , a boy actor with the King 's Men , may have played Lady Macbeth in a performance of what was likely Shakespeare 's tragedy at the Globe Theatre on 20 April 1611 . The performance was witnessed and described by Simon Forman in his manuscript The Book of Plays and Notes thereof per Formans for Common Policy . His account , however , does not establish whether the play was Shakespeare 's Macbeth or a work on the same subject by another dramatist . The role may have been beyond the talents of a boy actor and may have been played by a man in early performances . 
