Historians generally agree that The Theatre was the first public playhouse in London built for theatrical performances. It presented William Shakespeare’s plays and gave great impetus to professional actors, including those performing with England’s well-known acting companies, the King’s Men especially.
In early sixteenth century England, medieval religious plays were performed less frequently and secular professional theater began to take shape. The ultimate glory and heritage of this new professional theater would be the work of William Shakespeare. As great a writer as Shakespeare was, however, he may well have been lost to history were it not for the success of the acting company called the King’s Men
Except for entertainers and clowns maintained by the king and the more powerful nobles, there were few professional actors in England during the Middle Ages, and the existing dramatic literature was devoted to religious subjects. During the early sixteenth century, there emerged a growing number of individuals who sought to earn their living as professional actors. Some of them were hired by the king to perform short works known as interludes. In addition to the interludes, there appeared a body of secular plays produced at English universities. The universities encouraged these plays as a means of learning history, the classics, and the English language. Important student playwrights such as Christopher Marlowe and Thomas Kyd (1558-1594), known as the University Wits
Actors and theatrical producers who were not players of the king’s interludes sought out likely public spaces in which to present the works of the University Wits. Among such spaces were the entry yards of the various London inns as well as certain sports arenas, not unlike modern football stadiums, where bull and bear baiting took place. In the center of the arenas and in the inn yards, the actors would erect a stage surrounded by an audience. There is evidence that a performance hall of some type, called The Red Lion, had been erected for professional productions by 1567, but neither of these places gave the emerging acting companies absolute control over scheduling, physical layout, or, most important, audience entrance fees.
The lack of an actual theater building did not, however, retard the growth of professional acting. Companies of professionals organized and were sufficiently successful to be recognized and licensed as corporate entities by Parliament in 1572. This licensing act required that the companies exist only under the patronage of a court noble. Chief among these professional theatrical troupes were the Lord Howard-sponsored group and the company sponsored by the earl of Leicester; both companies were locked in stern competition for control of the theater market. On the surface, it appeared that the Howard’s Men
Leicester’s Men also had the services of Richard Burbage’s father, James, who, although not a major acting talent, was a part-time builder and was willing to risk his fortune in the construction of a permanent theater for the company. To avoid control by London’s government, James Burbage elected to place his new building in Shoreditch, a suburb just northeast of London proper. To make clear the building’s function, Burbage called it, simply, The Theatre.
The artistic and financial impact of James Burbage’s innovative structure was immediate and profound. Indeed, so good was the income from The Theatre that Burbage was able to build, within a year, a second playhouse in Shoreditch, called The Curtain
The exact physical configuration of The Theatre is not known, but since the company also performed at The Curtain, as did other troupes, there must have been some similarities between all Elizabethan playhouses. Some evidence is extant, including the ground plan of the Rose Theatre
The Theatre was three stories in height. The ground floor comprised a large arena in which a sizable stage was placed, surrounded on three sides by a standing audience, known as groundlings, who paid the lowest admission price. The second floor comprised a balcony in which a seated audience of ladies and gentlemen surrounded groundlings and the stage. Balcony seats were much more expensive. Other very expensive seats, or stools, were provided on the stage or playing area itself. A third floor featured a small peaked house for the musicians.
The success of professional theater in general and the two leading companies in particular is evident in a further development. In 1593-1594, a great plague ravished London, forcing the closure of all theaters and performance areas. When the actors could again perform, two companies were considered superior: the company of Philip Henslowe and Edward Alleyn, which was under the new patronage of the powerful Lord Admiral, and the Burbage family’s company, with the great actor Richard Burbage and other actors and playwrights such as William Kemp and William Shakespeare. This group was under the patronage of the highest noble in the land, the Lord Chamberlain, and was still performing in The Theatre.
Not to be outdone, the Lord Admiral’s Men
Although there is some evidence that a playhouse of some sort may have existed prior to The Theatre, most scholars agree that The Theatre was the first public playhouse in England built exclusively for professional theater. Once The Theatre was in operation, the Lord Chamberlain’s Men gained the upper hand in competition with the Lord Admiral’s Men for royal favor.
Moreover, the financial and artistic base provided by The Theatre allowed for the performance of such important Shakespearean plays as The Comedy of Errors, Love’s Labour’s Lost, The Merchant of Venice, and Romeo and Juliet. It was, for instance, from one of the two upper stories in The Theatre that Juliet’s famous balcony scene was staged.
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Barry, Herbert, ed. The First Public Playhouse: The Theatre in Shoreditch, 1576-1598. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1979. Collection of essays on various issues concerning the building and use of The Theatre. -
Brockett, Oscar, and Franklin J. Hildy. History of the Theatre. 9th ed. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 2002. The fundamental general reference work in theater history. -
Hildy, Franklin J., ed. New Issues in the Reconstruction of Shakespeare’s Theatre. New York: Peter Lang, 1990. A collection of essays by experts on the general design of Elizabethan theaters.
1558-1603: Reign of Elizabeth I
Dec., 1598-May, 1599: The Globe Theatre Is Built