 |
 |
Blackfriars Theatre
There were two Blackfriars theatres, the second famed as the winter dwelling of The King's Men (after 1608). Both were situated on the site of a thirteenth century Dominican priory within the City of London between the River Thames and Ludgate Hill.
|
The estates of the priory were split up in 1538 during the suppression of the English monasteries under Henry VIII. In 1576 the Master of the Children of the chapel, Richard Farrant, leased part of the building along the western side of the priory cloisters so that the children could present their plays in this 'private' theatre before performing them at court. The building hosted several children's companies until it was given back to its owner in 1584.
Another part of the old monastery was bought by James Burbage (the father of Richard Burbage), who converted it into a theatre in 1596. The theatre was leased initially to children's companies after opposition to Burbage's original plans for a public theatre. Richard Burbage inherited the Blackfriars Theatre in 1597 after his father's death.
|
|
|
|
In 1608 Richard Burbage's company of players, The King's Men, played at the Blackfriars during the winter season. William Shakespeare's later plays were premiered there.
|
|
At the outbreak of the English Civil War in 1642, the Blackfriars was forced to close. It was later demolished in 1655.
The Theatre
The Theatre, designed and built by James Burbage (father of the actor Richard Burbage), was the first public playhouse in London. After its opening in 1576 it attracted several large playing companies including Leicester's Men (1576-78), the Admiral's Men (1590-91), and the Lord Chamberlain's Men (1594-96).
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Theatre was a round, open-topped building with three galleries surrounding the yard. The Theatre was multi-functional and hosted fencing and athletic competitions as well as theatrical performances.
The lease on the building ended with the death of its architect in February 1597. In 1598 Burbage's sons, Cuthbert and Richard, dismantled The Theatre piece by piece. They then used this timber to construct the first Globe playhouse on the opposite side of the Thames.The Curtain
Despite the Curtain's surprisingly long life, relatively little is known about it. The Curtain opened in 1577 in Shoreditch, and was the second public playhouse to be built in the London area (the Theatre was the first). Harry Lanman managed The Curtain from 1582-1592 and is said to have been responsible for its creation.
|
|
Many companies, including the Lord Chamberlain's Men and the Queen Anne's Men, performed at the Curtain which was definitely in use until at least 1622. The Curtain was probably pulled down in the mid 1660s.
|
|
|
|
The Rose Theatre
The Rose Theatre was built by Philip Henslowe on a leased rose garden on the South Bank of the Thames in 1587. The theatre was octagonal in shape, partly thatched, and made of plaster and timber on a brick foundation.
|
|
The early history of The Rose is unknown, but the Lord Strange's Men along with some of the Admiral's Men and the actor Edward Alleyn took up residence there in 1592. There they performed numerous plays including Marlowe's The Jew of Malta and Shakespeare's Henry the Sixth, Part One.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Between 1593-4 Sussex's Men occupied The Rose before Alleyn (who had married Henslowe's step-daughter), brought The Admiral's Men to the theatre. By 1600 The Rose was in bad repair and was suffering due to the popularity of the recently built Globe. Henslowe built a new theatre, The Fortune, in the north of London and The Admiral's Men moved there. The Rose was rarely used from that point, and was torn down shortly after Henslowe's lease expired in 1605.
|
|
The Swan
Relatively little is known about the Swan since hardly any evidence of it has survived. It was built around 1595 by its owner Francis Langley and was a near neighbour of the Rose on Bankside, built eight years earlier.
|
|
However, one surviving piece of evidence has been crucial for theatre historians. A description and sketch of the Swan by Johannes De Witt has proved extremely valuable in attempts to reconstruct the form of Elizabethan theatres.
|
Johannes De Witts sketch of the Swan Theatre |
The Swan was evidently an impressive theatre with an alleged capacity of roughly 3000, though it is likely that resident companies rarely occupied it. Indeed, evidence of only one play performed at the Swan survives - Middleton's A Chaste Maid in Cheapside performed by Lady Elizabeth's Men in 1613.
The last known mention of the Swan theatre was in 1632.The Fortune
The Fortune theatre was built in 1600 by Philip Henslowe to compete with the newly constructed Globe theatre. The Fortune resembled the Globe in many ways, except that it was square and its timbers remained unpainted.
|
|
Specific details of The Fortune's construction can be found in Philip Henslowe's contract for the theatre's building work. This contract is still an extensive source of information about the general structure and construction of Elizabethan playhouses, and much conjecture about the Globe stems from information gleaned from this source.
Peter Streete, who built the Globe, was subsequently contracted to build the Fortune, which is believed to have been modelled on the former theatre. It had a circular open yard surrounded by three tiers of galleries. A roof covered the rectangular shape, (43' by 27.5'). The contract also highlights plans to build a tiring-house, gentlemen's room and two-penny rooms.
The first Fortune theatre cost Henslowe 520 pounds, and after burning down in 1621 the rebuilding work cost almost 1000 pounds.
The Admiral's Men were the chief performers in the Fortune after it opened in 1600. Subsequent to the Puritans' closing of all theatres in 1642, the Fortune was only used for performing illicitly staged shows. It was torn down in 1661 to make way for the construction of 23 houses.
|
|
The Hope Theatre
The Hope theatre was built in 1613 by Philip Henslowe and Jacob Meade for the dual purpose of staging theatre and the sport of bear baiting. Although it was built in close proximity to the Globe on Bankside, it was not considered a real threat to Shakespeare's theatre. The contract for the Hope shows that it had a movable stage, but otherwise it was modelled on the Swan theatre.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ben Johnson's Bartholemew Fair was one of the first plays written for the Hope. It was performed by Lady Elizabeth's Men (the Hope's resident theatre company), in the autumn of 1614.
The dual staging of both bear baiting and plays soon became a problem. The Lady Elizabeth's Men were promised that bear baiting would only occupy the theatre once every two weeks. However, the sport was a far more lucrative business and disputes soon developed over priorities. The players eventually quit the theatre soon after Henslowe's death in 1616.
The Cockpit
A private playhouse in Drury Lane, London. The Cockpit was built in 1609 for cockfighting. However, in 1616 Christopher Beeston converted the building into a theatre. After being burned down a year later it was rebuilt in 1618 and renamed the Phoenix, although it was often referred to by its previous name.
The Cockpit hosted several companies, although originally it was converted into a theatre primarily to house the Queen Anne's Men, of which Beeston was a member.
|
|
Beeston's son inherited the theatre after his father's death in 1638. However he was soon replaced by Sir William Davenant after presenting a play that offended King Charles I.
An Act of Parliament closed all theatres in 1642 but the Cockpit continued to stage shows in secret. Despite the theatres' closure William Davenant was given special permission to perform two of England's first operas: The Cruelty of the Spaniards in Peru and Sir Francis Drake, in 1658 and 1659 respectively.