It is believed to have been Hamlet, and was performed on board the Red Dragon, a ship belonging to the Honourable Company of Merchants Trading to the East Indies (the East India Company) in 1607.

The captain, William Keeling, was an enthusiastic follower of Shakespeare’s plays and he persuaded his crew to perform Richard II and Twelfth Night on the same voyage to the Spice Islands. What his sailors thought of the plays is not recorded, but they invited sailors over from the ship that was accompanying them to watch the play.