Did Lord Burghley and his circle have a spy in the Globe Theater already? It seems that on two separate occasions, almost as soon as Shakespeare realized two people of the company would be problematic due to their faith, somebody arranged for their disposal (murder of the first one, and the ruined reputation of another that forced him from the acting company.) In neither case, did Shakespeare talk to somebody outside of the company about either person. There was another murder of a third person in the company, but this was somebody who had been running his mouth in public, so it was blatantly obvious to everybody that he had to go.
- Shakespeare never dwells on who such a spy may be — so we therefore never get to learn the details — but the short answer is "yes". He and Burbage explicitly discuss that there are other people involved in making sure things run smoothly, and just because they aren't privy to the details doesn't mean they're not working right under their noses. Possibly some of the tireman's assistants, or other unnamed-but-omnipresent workers at the theater, who are constantly eavesdropping and passing along info to Nick Skeres.
