Public Playhouses in London

1. The first purpose built theatre to be constructed since the Roman occupation was The Theatre.

a. James Burbage (c. 1530-1597) was an actor and a joiner, who saw the economic possibilities of a unique playing space.
b. Burbage constructed The Theatre in 1576 in a northern suburb of London in the Liberty of Holywell (the well of the former Benedictine priory of nuns) just one mile North of Bishopgate.
c. The area is still called Finbury Fields and was in the parish of St. Leonard's Shoreditch in Middlesex.
d. This meant it was outside the jurisdiction of the City that prohibited performances within its' walls.
e. John Brayne (d. 1586), a grocer, loaned his brother in law (Burbage had married Ellen Brayne.) the money to build

i. The Theatre cost the substantial sum of 650 pounds to build.
ii. Brayne had previously invested in the Red Lion Inn, where plays were presented in the courtyard.
iii. Some scholars argue that the prologue (lines 10-14) spoken by Chorus in Shakespeare's Henry V referring to the playing space as this "this wooden O" in all likelihood refers to The Theatre rather than the Globe.

f. The Theatre became the home of the resident company of The Lord Chamberlain's Men.

i. It was a company that survived censorship, rebellion and plague.
ii. It profited its investors until the Roundheads/ Puritans closed all the theatres in the revolutionary year of 1642.
iii. It was the company that accepted William Shakespeare a sharer after he paid the membership fee of 50 pounds.

2. Henry Lanman (Laneman) built a second theatre, The Curtain, in 1577 roughly 200 yards south of The Theatre, thus closer to the City and the people walking from Bishopgate.

a. The Curtain took its' name from the curtain close that was nearby. (Outdoor public amphitheatres did not have a curtain as we think of them in a proscenium arch theatre.)
b. In 1585 Burbage and Lanman agreed to a seven-year contract that pooled their profits, with The Curtain serving as an "easer" or second house made available when the need arose.

3. The Rose was built by Phillip Henslowe in 1577 on what had been a rose garden at the cost of £816 and John Chomley earned 50% of the gate and had the food concession.

a. Philip Henslowe's Diary (Notes or Account Books) records that The Rose was extensively refurbished and repaired in 1592 and was home to

i. Lord Strange's Men (1592-1593) who played both

i. Henry VI, Part I
ii. Titus Andronicus

ii. Lord Sussex Men (1593)
ii. Lord Sussex Men and The Queen's Men (1594)
iii. The Lord Admiral's Men (1594/1595-1600) became the resident company
iv. Worcester's Men (1602-1603)

b. The Rose's resident company of players The Lord Admiral's Men was led by the actor-manager Edward (Ned) Alleyn, who was eventually to become Henslowe's son in law.
c. Edward (Ned) Alleyn married Henslowe's stepdaughter, Joan Woodward.
d. They became partners in 1600 and their theatre ventures made both Henslowe and Alleyn very wealthy men.
e. Henslowe did not renew the ground lease for The Rose when it came up for renewal in 1605
f. The Rose was dismantled in 1606
g. Phillip Henslowe died in 1616, the same year Shakespeare died.

4. The fourth theatre was built in Newington Butts (c. 1577), a village about one mile south of London Bridge.

a. It too was a public theatre and named after the village in which it stood.
b. It was in the Newington Butts Theatre in 1594 that we have our first record on of a play by William Shakespeare being staged.
c. That play was Titus Andronicus.

5. The Swan, a fifth public theatre, was built (c.1595) about 150 yards upriver from The Rose in the manor of Paris Garden by a draper and moneylender (who were nicknamed 'goldsmiths"), Francis Langley.

1. We have a drawing of the Swan that is the only contemporary sketch (in 1596) made of an Elizabethan theatre.
2. The original drawing by Johannes de Witt, a Dutch priest, is lost, but a copy made in 1583 by his fellow student, Arend van Buchel, was found in 1888 by Karl Theofdor Gaedetz of the Royal Library, Berlin, now resides in the University Library in Utrecht.

6. The advent of The Globe -- In February 1597, James Burbage died while trying to renew the land lease of The Theatre.

a. The Theatre was passed on to his son, Cuthbert Burbage, and the father's interest in Blackfriars was passed on to Richard Burbage.
b. Cuthbert Burbage (c. 1566-1636) was also unsuccessful in negotiating a renewal of the 21-year lease with the landlord, Giles Allen.
c. Allen, who has been meanly described as an avaricious Puritan, thought he would soon own The Theatre, if he delayed the signing of a new land lease.
d. Allen did allow the resident company, The Lord Chamberlain's Men of which Shakespeare was a member, to continue their season.
e. When Allen came to London to collect his "rents," he met with the Burbages, while staying at The George Inn at the south end of London Bridge.
f. He offered the Burbages a new lease at an extortionate rate and would not accept Richard Burbage to stand surety.
g. Allen apparently planed to pull The Theatre down and sell off what could be salvaged and then put the land to "better" use, which showed his Puritanical attitude towards plays and players.
h. On December 28,1597, Cuthbert and James Burbage staged "a Christmastime raid."

i. With Allen away in the country, the Burbages employed master carpenter Peter Streete (Street) with the financial backing William Cross, to hire a party of workmen to dismantle The Theatre.
ii. They then carted the beams across the river to Southwark and used them to build the most famous public outdoor in London, The Globe.
iii. This action was permitted in an escape clause in the land lease.
iv. But when Allen learned of the daring act, he brought several suits claiming 800 pounds damage, all of which he lost in Court of Requests, which ordered his to desist bringing additional nuisance suits, like a claim of two pounds for trampling of the grass.

i. The Globe was first used in 1599.
j. It had a unique ownership pattern of "householders" was established.

i. Cuthbert and James Burbage had 50% ownership
ii. The other half was owned by five of The Lord Chamberlains Men.

a. John Heminge
b. Augustine Philips
c. Thomas Pope
d. Will Kempe
e. William Shakespeare,
f. The shares were held in trust by

i. William Leveson and
ii. Thomas Savage

iii. The land was leased from Sir Nicholas Brend.

k. The gate (the day's ticket sales) was normally split 50/50 between the householders and the acting company.

i. Of the householders half, 50% went to the Burbages 50% went to the five actors.
ii. Of the acting companies half, after expenses and part-time players' salaries the remainder was then divided among the "sharers" of the company.
iii. The original sharers in the Lord Chamberlain's Men were

a. Cuthbert Burbage
b. Richard Burbage
c. Thomas Pope
d. Will Kempe
e. Augustine Phillips
f. John Heminge
g. And William Shakespeare

l. So it was that that Shakespeare became a wealthy man as both sharer and householder.

i. Obviously the plays were a tremendous asset to be jealously guarded by the Lord Chamberlain's Men, but Shakespeare's wealth came from his acting and part ownership of the theatre.
ii. There was also revenue from Royal (command) performances, which were remunerative and shared after expense by The Lord Chamberlain's Men.

m. Its' signage was a figure of Hercules supporting (the planet Earth) the Globe. In legend Hercules would stand in for Atlas doing the task.

i. Hoisting a flag and the sounding of trumpets from the "tower of the theatre" signaled performances
ii. Above the entrance was the theatre's motto "Totus mundus agit histrionem." Roughly translated it means "All the world is a stage."
iii. Because of this some scholars argue that the first production may have been Shakespeare's As You Like It.

a. "All the world's a stage. (And all the men and women in it merely players.)
b. The line belongs to Jacques (II, vii, 139) in As You Like It.

n. Estimates are that the Globe could accommodate 2,500 to 3,000 spectators with average capacity running about 50% except on the frequent public holidays.

i. Attendance at all the theatres could have exceeded one million each year with two or three productions on average being available each day.
ii. Performances normally began about 2 PM and ran without intermissions.
iii. Admission was one pence to stand as a "groundling" in the yard or pit with seats an additional one to five pence depending on location and the addition of a cushion.
iv. Seats for the rakes on stage who were there to be seen cost more as did seats in the Lord's Box.
v. One could buy tobacco, nuts, fruits, ale, sack and beer for three to six pence.
vi. Since the average skilled workman's wage was roughly 12 pence per day, the first penny for admission was a bargain.
vii. But the tab could run as high as a day's pay for a seat and refreshments.
viii. Theatre and bull and bear baiting were among the limited pleasures workmen and apprentices could afford.

o. In 1608-1609, with the opening of the Blackfriars (a private theatre), the Globe was home to the King's Men in the summer months only.
p. On June 23, 1613 (St. Peter's Day) The Globe burned to the ground.

i. The fire was ignited by a cannon salute fired as a sound effect in (I, iv, 49 "chamber's discharged") during a performance of Shakespeare's Henry VIII.
ii. The cannon sparked a fire in thatch roof of the theatre that was consumed in one hour.
iii. Amazingly no one was killed despite "only two narrow exits" and all playbooks, costumes (other than a few cloaks) and props were saved.
iv. One man's trousers were set afire but doused with ale he was saved a burning.

7. The new Globe was rebuilt in six months construction time

a. It had a tile roof and reopened in 1614.
b. Sir Matthew Brand pulled down the new Globe on April 15, 1644 so that tenements could be constructed on the site.

8. London's seventh theatre (depending on how we count) was built in 1600 and named The Fortune by its owners, Phillip Henslowe and Edward Alleyn.

a. When the Lord Chamberlain's Men moved south of the river, Henslowe moved swiftly to replace The Rose with The Fortune.
b. That new theatre was modeled on The Globe, but was square rather than octagonal and built in just six months.
c. It was located just North of Cripplegate

i. In the liberty of Finbury
ii. Between Golden (or Golding) and Whitecross Streets
iii. In the parish of St. Giles
iv. About 1 kilometer west of The Curtain's location

d. Peter Streete, the carpenter who built the Globe, was contracted to build the Fortune for 440 pounds. After painting the total cost came to 520 ponds.

i. Like the Globe it had three galleries and in the pit
ii. The stage was 43 feet wide and thrust 27feet 6 inches or roughly halfway into the pit or yard of the playhouse.
iii. The interior was 55 feet square and the exterior was 80 feet square, which meant the galleries occupied 15 feet on three interior walls and the stage house 15 feet on the fourth wall.
iv. It is from theatre contracts of the Fortune and Hope that we have gathered most of our data on theatre spaces in the Elizabethan and Jacobean era.
v. In addition, the Rose theatre was rediscovered and excavated in 1989, which provided considerable information on the ground plans of those theatres, which apparently had raked stages that helped the groundlings and spectators in the first of the three galleries see all of the action.

e. The theatre's signage was the figure of the Goddess of Fortune.
f. The Fortune was destroyed by fire on December 9, 1621.

i. It was destroyed in the conflagration that consumed the entire structure in just two hours.
ii. It was a devastating loss for the player's company, because all the playbooks, properties and costumes were lost in the fire.

9. The new Fortune was rebuilt of brick in 1626 at a cost of 1,000 pounds and may have been round.
10. The eighth theatre (c.1605) built in London was The Red Bull owned by Aaron Holland.

a. It was located in North London above Clerkenwell Green west of St. John Street on land rented from Anne Bedingfield.
b. It like the Fortune was square.
c. Queen Anne's Men occupied the premises from 1605-1619.
d. Thomas Heywood claimed to have written in total or in part over 200 hundred plays for these players in his Preface to the English Traveller.
e. Thomas Killigrew, who became one of the two major theatre impresarios after the Restoration of the Monarchy, used to get into the Red Bull to hear the plays by taking small non-speaking parts.

11. The ninth theatre built in London in 1613-1614 was The Hope, which was a dual-purpose facility, both a playhouse and a bear and bull baiting ring.

1. Therefore, it was also known as the Bear Garden.
2. In fact the carpenter, Gilbert Kathrens, pulled down the old Bear Garden and the Hope was built on that site.
3. The site was Bankside in the Liberty of the Clink for 360 pounds.
4. Phillip Henslowe and Jacob Meade owned it in partnership.
5. Because of the animals, it had the smell and filth of old Smithfield, the old meat market.
6. Ben Jonson's Batholomew Fair, which is set in the Smithfield Market, was produced in the Hope on October 31, 1614, a perfectly bad smelling setting.

E. Private Playhouses in London

1. Description of Private Theatres

a. Private playhouses were indoors, rather than outdoors and open to the elements.
b. They were in the manner of the great halls in the palaces of the Royals and nobles of the realm.
c. The private playhouses were smaller than the public outdoor amphitheatres. It is estimated that they could seat 500 to 600 patrons versus the 2,000 plus in a public amphitheatre.
d. They were lit by candlelight, which lead to the practice of having intervals (intermissions) so that the candles could be trimmed and replaced.
e. Since the private theatres were smaller, the admission prices were higher than the public playhouses, which changed the type of audience to the more well to do..

i. What did the money mean?

a. 1 pound = 20 shillings
b. 1 pound = 240 pence
c. 1 pound = 4 crowns
d. 1 pound = 8 half crowns
f. 1 pound = 10 florins
g. 2/3 pound = 1 mark
h. 1 shilling = 12 pence
i. 1 mark = 2/3 pound (12 shillings and 7 pence)
j. 1 angel (or noble) = 10 shilling and 6 pence
k. 1 crown = 5 shillings (or 1/4 pound)
l. 1/2 crown = 2 shilling and 6 pence
m. 1 florin = 2 shillings (or 24 pence)

ii. What was the money worth?

a. A loaf of bread or tankard of ale cost 1 pence
b. A chicken cost 2 pence
c. An unskilled laborer earned about 6 pence a
day
(7 pounds per year).
d. An actor ("hired man") earned 20 shillings a week
(in season)
e. Entry into a public playhouse cost 1
pence
(to stand in the pit)
f. Entry into a private playhouse cost 6
pence
(to sit in the galleries)

f. So the average price of admission was six times more expensive (6 pence) for a private theatre than the 1 pence it cost for a "groundling" to enter a public playhouse and stand in the pit.
g. Whereas the cheapest spaces in the public playhouses were in the pit, this area was now provided with bench seats in the private theatres.

i. These stall or orchestra seats were the best place in the house to see the production and cost 1s 6d
(18 pence)
ii. A gallery seat came with the price of admission of 6 pence.
iii. A stool onstage cost a "rake" 2 shillings (24 pence). As many as 10 stools were available, for those who wanted to be seen at the playhouse.
iv. A box cost half a crown (54 pence).
v. Obviously the prices fluctuated over time and probably in terms of

a. Location in the gallery and
b. Nearness to the stage in the stalls.

h. The cost of going to the theatre was so high that the workmen and apprentices, who frequented the public playhouses, could seldom if ever afford attending a play at the private theatres.
i. This meant the audience at the private theatres was

a. Wealthier
b. Presumably better educated and
c. More aware of the dramatic styles popular at court.

j. The stage was smaller in the private playhouses and thus it had less of a thrust into the pit as well as width. (The Globe stage was "vast by comparison.")

2. Blackfriars

a. Blackfriars was located in what had been a Dominican (thus Black Friars because of the color of the robes) monastery (priory or religious house) built in 1275 within the London Wall.

i. The area was under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of London, therefore it was a liberty within the City from 1275 to 1608.
ii. The order was suppressed in 1538 by King Henry VIII when the monasteries were dissolved and the property was sold to private investors, but remained a 'liberty.'

b. It was located about 100 meters south and west of Old St. Paul's, and that meant it was easily accessible to the population of the City of London.
2. The priory of the Dominicans was really two spaces, the buttery and the "parlement"
3. When the Kings Men moved into the space in 1608

i. The Hall dimensions were 66 feet by 44 feet
ii. The pit had flooring ("was paved")
iii. There were two galleries on the 2 sides and the back of the house.
iv. There is some disagreement as to whether boxes were

a. In the middle of the back gallery so they could see clearly
b. Near the stage on either side of the house so the patrons could be seen

v. The stage was raked, higher upstage than downstage.

3. Whitefriars Relatively little is known about this private, indoor theatre.

a. Whitefriars was located in what had been a Carmelite priory or religious house (therefore the White Friars, who wore white robe.

i. It was located just west of the City Wall between the Thames and Fleet Street in an area of the City that had a reputation for being a tough part of town.
ii. It was available for use as a theatre, because was a liberty outside the jurisdiction of the City Council, because it had formerly been under the control of a Bishop.

b. The performance space was in the modified refectory

i. It was 85 feet long and 35 feet wide
ii. It was smaller than the Blackfriars space (101 feet long and 46 feet wide)
iii. It had the usual facilities

a. It had a raised stage at one end of the hall
b. With two doors accessing the tiring room
c. A curtained discovery space between the doors
d. It was a downscale version of Blackfriars
e. The tried to maximize the seating area for paying customers, which meant a smaller
f. This may have led to play production that emphasized intimate interior scenes

c. Michael Drayton, the poet and playwright, was one of the signatories to the lease, which was promulgated in c. 1605.

i. It was to this space that the Children of the Chapel Royal, reformed as the Children of the Queen's Revels, moved in 1608 after the loss of their lease for Blackfriars, which had a more attractive location and performance space.
ii, In 1608, the company of boy actors at the Blackfriars Theatre was shut down for performing a play (now lost) that mocked

a. A project to mine silver in Scotland
b. And, worse yet, the play made fun of King James I
c. The King is said to have vowed that the boys company "should never play more but should first beg their bread."

iii. II. The children's company continually changed its name

a. Children of the Chapel Royal (1600)
b. Children of the Queen's Revels (1604)
c. Children of Blackfriars (1608)
d. Children of Whitefriars (1609)
e. Children of the Queen's Revels (1610)

iv. The name changes were necessitated because the managers were repeatedly been in difficulty with the authorities

a. Henry Evans, who had "set up" the original company housed at Blackfriars

i. Evans was ordered give up management of the boys
ii. The charge was the kidnapping and impressing of Thomas Clifton into the company
iii. The company survived by bringing new partners and Evans leaving town

b. The company again courted censure producing controversial works

i. Samuel Daniel's Philotas (1604)
ii. John Marston, George Chapman and Ben Jonson's Eastward Ho, which lead to the imprisonment of the playwrights

v. Management then came under the control of

a. Edward Kirkham, who was Yeoman of the Revels and Robert Keysar However they had to give up their lease of Blackfriars, when the King's Men moved in.
b. The company was dissolved and then reformed by Keysar and court musician Phillip Rosseter
c. The Royal Patent was again restored to the company in 1610 under the name of the Children of Whitefriars
d. Another Children of the Queen's Revels, shared Whitefriars and were managed by

i. Playwright Robert Daborne
ii. And the actors, Robert Browne and Richard Jones

d. Many of the best playwrights of the day continued to write for the boys companies that took up residence at Whitefriars and these later groups managed to acquire scripts from disbanded companies
e. The boy's company that eventually merged with Lady Elizabeth's Men used it.
f. By 1614, Whitefriars was seldom active and by 1621 the hall was in disuse.

4. The Cockpit at Court

a. A cockpit was built by James I in 1604 on the grounds of Whitehall Palace in St. James Park.
b. On occasion this octagonal space was used to present plays for the Royals (Prince Henry and Princess Elizabeth) and courtiers.
c. It came to be called Cockpit at Court.
d. There are records of it being used as late as 1639.
e. The Kings are recorded as having played the works of William Shakespeare there with the playwright present.

5. The Phoenix (The Cockpit)

a. A covered cockpit located in Drury Lane in the parish of St.-Giles-in-the-Fields was converted into a playhouse called The Phoenix (or The Cockpit) by Christopher Beeston in 1616
b. Beeston's company of players, The Queen's Men, had occupied the playhouse, but had yet to open when tragically of the actors, the Phoenix was trashed in a riot of apprentices on celebrating Shrove Tuesday on March 4, 1617.
c. The Queen's Men lost all of their props, costumes and most disastrously, their prompt books
d. The repaired Phoenix reopened three months later, but since the prompt book was the only complete copy of the plays in their repertoire, the Queen's Men had lost the critical element necessary for the company to remain in business.
e. When it reopened, the company on the boards was Prince Henry's Men.
f. The were active at the Phoenix from 1617 to 1622.
g. Lady Elizabeth's Men then moved in as the rep company.
i. A company of children, Beeston's Boys, under the direction of Christopher Beeston and at his death in 1638, his son William, held forth until the playhouses were closed in 1642.
j. Although the Phoenix was badly damaged by Roundhead (Puritan) soldiers in 1649, William Davenant was able to repair the space sufficiently in 1658 to stage operas with the permission of Cromwell's government.
k. In 1660, with the Restoration of the Crown with Charles II as King of England, a company headed by John Rhodes began offering theatrical performances at the Phoenix.
l. By the end of the year Thomas Betterton's company took up residence until the Phoenix and nearly the entire City of London within the old walls perished in The Great Fire of 1666.
m. The only benefit the Great Fire brought was the end of the Bubonic Plague.

6. The Salisbury Court

a. The Salisbury Court playhouse was a purpose-built private, indoor theatre built by William Blagrove and Richard Gunnell in 1629 east of the Whitefriars precinct within London Wall.
c. The Children of the King's Revels performed there from 1629 to 1631.
d. Prince Charles Men were in rep at The Salisbury Court from 1631 until 1637.
e. Then from 1637 until the closing of the playhouses in 1642, Queen Henrietta's were in residence.
f. In 1649, Roundhead soldiers 'pulled down' the Salisbury Court, which meant they destroyed the interior of the space.
h. However, William Davenant restored the Phoenix and played there from 1661, until the playhouse was totally consumed by the Great Fire of 1666.