The first recorded performance of The Tempest took place in 1611.
The performance was recorded on 1 November 1611, when Shakespeare’s company, the King’s Men, performed the play before King James I and the English royal court at Whitehall Palace. This is the earliest surviving documentary record connecting the play with a performance.
The date also helps scholars estimate when Shakespeare wrote the play. The Tempest was probably composed between late 1610 and mid-1611, so it was likely new when the court saw it. However, the Whitehall event may not have been the play’s first-ever staging; plays were commonly performed publicly before being invited to court.
Another common confusion involves the winter of 1612–1613, when The Tempest was performed again among court entertainments celebrating the marriage of Princess Elizabeth and Frederick V. That later series is not the earliest recorded performance. The play eventually appeared in print as the opening work in Shakespeare’s First Folio, published in 1623.