The THEATRE by James Burbage 1576-1596

Here is a post from Shaksper by the inimitable Dave Kathman including a link to a gooogle earth portrayal of the newly found foundations of the THEATRE, the very first in England built for public consumption.

Re: SHK 19.0454 The Theatre at Shoreditch Discovered

The site of the excavations are visible in a satellite photograph on Google
Earth, which one can see at the following URL I created:

The building at the corner of Curtain Road and New Inn Yard,

visible in this photograph as a white square with a bit taken out of its upper left corner
(there was a Foxtons store on the ground floor when I was there two years ago),
has two plaques on it. One says “The site of this building forms part of what
was once the precinct of the Priory of S. John the Baptist, Holywell. Within a
few yards stood from 1577 to 1598, the first London building specially devoted
to the performance of plays, and known as “The Theatre.” The other plaque says
“London Borough of Hackney. William Shakespeare Acted at The Theatre. Built by
James Burbage. Plays by Shakespeare were performed here.” The excavations
mentioned in the press articles are visible as a construction area to the north
and east of this building in the Google Earth photo, with a red crane rising
above it. I’m not sure when the satellite photo was taken. Julian Bowsher, the
Museum of London archeologist quoted in one of Hardy’s articles, told me last
week that they’re not 100% certain that the remains they found are of the
Theatre, but they’re the right type of remains in the right place. A few years
ago they found part of the Long Barn that was just to the south of the Theatre,
and it was to the south of these new remains.

Dave Kathman