If I hadn’t gone into theatre I was headed for a life in archeology. As some people know I love prehistoric stone sites and anything else archeological. So it was with great interest that I read this Guardian article about unearthing another Shakespeare age theatre. I can remember when remains were discovered in 1989 of the Rose Theatre on London’s Southbank. “The Rose became a major international news story, and the site attracted many thousands of visitors. A campaign to ‘Save the Rose’ and protect it from redevelopment was launched with enthusiastic support from actors (including the dying Lord Olivier, who gave his last public speech on behalf of the Rose), scholars and the general public.
Currently the Rose can tell the visitor much about its life between 1587 and 1603. Red rope lights around the site indicate the size of the Rose, its courtyard or pit and the position of its two stages. There is a viewing platform from which these lights can be seen and a series of poster facts sheets which tell you much about not only the Rose, but about the area of Bankside which it occupied in the late 1590s and early 1600s.
The site today inspires actors and other artists just as it did over four hundred years ago and there are regular events and open days when their many talents can be put on show.”
Now to hear that another of Sakepeare’s theatres has been unearthed I am so excited. I would like to drop everything and fly over to London right now and go see the dig.
Andy McKim
__________________________________________________________________________________________
Remains of Shakespeare’s Curtain theatre are uncovered in Shoreditch, east London
Shakespeare’s Curtain theatre unearthed in east London
Theatre where Romeo and Juliet was first performed is rediscovered in Shoreditch centuries after it was dismantled.
Well preserved remains of Shakespeare’s original “wooden O” stage, the Curtain theatre where Henry V and Romeo and Juliet were first performed, have been discovered in a yard in east London.
The Curtain theatre in Shoreditch preceded the Globe on the Thames, showcasing several of Shakespeare’s most famous plays. But it was dismantled in the 17th century and its precise location lost.
Now part of the gravelled yard in Shoreditch where the groundlings stood, ate, gossiped and watched the plays, and foundation walls on which the tiers of wooden galleries were built have been uncovered in what was open ground for 500 years while the surrounding district became one of the most densely built in London.
Experts from Museum of London Archaeology (MoLA) have found two sections of exterior wall, crucial for giving the dimensions of the theatre, and are confident of revealing more as the site is cleared for redevelopment. An outer yard paved with sheep knuckle bones could date from the theatre or slightly later housing.
It has long been known that the Curtain – named after the ancient road it fronted – was in the area, but its exact site was lost after the building fell into disuse in the late 1620s. The site in Hewett Street is only a stone’s throw from a remarkably accurate plaque marking the best guess for its location. The Curtain, built in 1577, was only a few hundred yards from another theatre further along Curtain Road, imaginatively named the Theatre, whose foundations were discovered in 2008, also by MoLA. Both were among the earliest purpose-built theatres in London, and intimately connected with Shakespeare.
When the actor-manager James Burbage fell out with his landlord at the Theatre, the company – according to cherished theatre legend – dismantled the timbers overnight and shipped them across the river to build his most famous theatre, the Globe, on Bankside.
Until the new theatre was ready, his company used the Curtain for at least two years from 1597, where Henry V, and it is believed Romeo and Juliet, were first staged. The vivid image of a theatre as a wooden O comes from the prologue to Henry V: “Can this Cock-Pit hold within this Woodden O, the very Caskes that did affright the Ayre at Agincourt?”
Rumours of the rediscovery of the Curtain have caused great excitement in the Shakespearian community, in the middle of the summer-long international festival devoted to his work. Dominic Dromgoole, artistic director of the reconstructed Globe, described the discovery as “hugely exciting”.
“I love the fact that we are excavating London, and slowly clearing away the miserable piles of Victoriana and Empire, and revealing the wild, anarchic and joyous London which is lurking beneath. It reminds me of the Zocalo in Mexico City, where all the Spanish palaces are slowly sinking into the earth, and the old Mayan temples are being squeezed back up.”
Michael Boyd, director of the Royal Shakespeare Company, said: “It is inspiring that the Museum of London has unearthed the foundations of the Curtain Theatre. I look forward to touching the mud and stone, if not wood, and feeling the presence of that space where Shakespeare’s early work, including the histories, made such a lasting impact.”
The site is part of a large block owned by a development company, Plough Yard Developments, which plans to incorporate the remains as public open space into a proposed mixed office, retail and residential development, now going for outline planning permission. Therese Bak, of the architects Pringle Brandon Drew, said they were thrilled by the discovery, and hope to incorporate a performance and exhibition space in the new buildings.
The only contemporary illustration, showing a tower-like building flying a flag, thought to be the Curtain in 1600, is an implausibly idyllic scene with a horse crossing green meadows and a charming wooded hill in the background. In reality the site is flat as a pancake, and by 1600 it was a lawless and fairly noisome district just outside the City limits, with slaughter houses and tanneries, and the now buried river Walbrook an open sewer and rubbish dump.
Chris Thomas of MoLA, who led the excavation, said the remains were remarkably well preserved, probably because for centuries they remained under open space as the theatre fell out of use and was redeveloped as housing, becoming back gardens, a pub yard – the entrance was probably where the small Victorian pub, the Horse and Groom, a listed building which will be retained, now stands – and then a garage with an inspection pit which, unknown to its builders, almost laid bare the Tudor foundations.
The site has already yielded bits of broken clay pipe, which could date from the theatre, and fragments of later china and wall tiles, but Thomas is confident of finding artefacts as more of the site is uncovered.
“On other Tudor theatres we’ve found quantities of little pottery money boxes, which the punters put the price of admission into on the way in, which were then smashed at the back of the theatre to get the takings – I’m sure some from the Curtain are still there, just waiting for us to find them.”
Leonardo | 07.06.12 at 11:03 am said…
The Globe, built by carpenter Peter Smith and his wrkoers, was the most magnificent theater that London had ever seen and built in 1597 -1598. This theatre could hold several thousand people! The Globe Theatre didn’t just show plays. It was also reputed to be a brothel and gambling house. It was situated on the South bank of the river Thames in Southwark. The old Globe Theatre was a magnificent amphitheatre, as shown in the picture at the top of the page. Maps of London clearly show the architecture of the Globe Theatre, and these have enabled an approximate picture of the old Globe Theatre to be drawn. Not one inside picture of the old Globe Theatre is in existence, however, a picture of another amphitheatre, the Swan, has survived. The amphitheatres were similar in design, so the picture of the Swan Theatre can be used a good guide to the structure of the old Globe.The Globe Theatre was a huge success and as it had been built in close proximity to the Bear Garden. The profits of the Bear Garden slumped and in 1614 Henslowe and Edward Alleyn (the most famous actor in Elizabethan England ) had it demolished and replaced with a new playhouse which they called The Hope Theatre (aptly named!). Edward Alleyn returned to the stage in an attempt to lure the crowds from The Globe Theatre.Days out at the Globe Theater would have been an exciting event. The grounds surrounding the Globe Theater would have been bustling with people. There would be Stalls selling merchandise and refreshments creating a market day atmosphere. Non playgoers would flock to the Globe Theater to go to the market stalls and soak in the holiday-like atmosphere. The Globe would have particularly attracted young people and the were many complaints of apprentices avoiding work in order to go to the theater. A trumpet was sounded to announce to people that the play was about to begin at the Globe Theatre in order for people to take their final places.Towering above the Globe was a small tower with a flag pole. Flags were used as a form of Elizabethan Advertising! Flags were erected on the day of the performance which sometimes displayed a picture advertising the next play to be performed. Colour coding was also used a black flag meant a tragedy , white a comedy and red a history. Elizabethan and Shakespearean Advertising !To announce the arrival of the new playhouse, the Lord Chamberlain’s Men flew a flag featuring the figure of Hercules carrying a Globe on his shoulders to announce the imminent performance of their first performance, Julius Caesar. This theme was displayed above the main entrance of the Globe Theater. A crest displaying Hercules bearing the globe on his shoulders together with the motto Totus mundusagit histrionem ( the whole world is a playhouse ). This phrase was slightly re-worded in the William Shakespeare play As You Like It All the world’s a stage which was performed at the Globe Theater.The purpose built Globe theatre allowed stage productions to become quite sophisticated with the use of massive props such as fully working canons, although it would of course had to be left on stage for the entire performance of the play. Special effects at the Globe were also a spectacular addition at the theater allowing for smoke effects, the firing of a real canon, fireworks (for dramatic battle scenes) and spectacular flying’ entrances from the rigging in the heavens’. The stage floor had trap-doors allowing for additional surprising incidents. Music was another addition to the Globe productions. It was no wonder that the Globe Theater and this form of Elizabethan entertainment was so popular. The sight of Shakespearean actors apparently flying must have been quite amazing to the diiscerning Elizabethan Theater audiences.The Globe Theater audience never had time to get bored. In just two weeks Elizabethan theaters could often present “eleven performances of ten different plays”. The Shakespearean Actors generally only got their lines as the play was in progress. Parts were often allocated on the day of the performance. Many times the actors didn’t even get their own lines. They did cue acting , which meant that there was a person backstage who whispered the lines to the actor just before he was going to say them. This rapid turnover led to another technique called “ cue scripting ”, where where each actor was given only his own lines. The complete scene of the play was not explained to the actors until it was actually being performed. This technique allowed for zero rehearsal time, thus enabling a fast turnover in terms of new productions at the Globe Theater and a huge portfolio of different roles. There were no actresses. Female characters had to be played by young boys. The acting profession was not a credible one and it was unthinkable that any woman would appear in a play. Two of the most notable actors of the Elizabethan era were Edward Alleyn and Will Kempe. Edward Alleyn became immensely wealthy due to stake holding in a theatre company (the Admiral’s men).The Elizabethan general public (the Commoners) referred to as groundlings would pay 1 penny to stand in the Pit’ of the Globe Theater. The gentry would pay to sit in the galleries often using cushions for comfort! Rich nobles could watch the play from a chair set on the side of the Globe stage itself. Theatre performances were held in the afternoon, because, of course, there was no artificial lighting. Men and women attended plays, but often the prosperous women would wear a mask to disguise their identity. The plays were extremely popular and attracted vast audiences to the Globe. The audiences only dropped during outbreaks of the bubonic plague, which was unfortunately an all too common occurrence during the Elizabethan era. This happened in 1593, 1603 and 1608 when all theaters were closed due to the Bubonic Plague (The Black Death). The Shakespearean actors were therefore temporary out of work and left London to stay in other parts of England. William Shakespeare no doubt used these periods of closure to write more plays and go home to Stratford.Globe audiences had to put one penny in a box by the door which would pay for a view of the play by standing on the ground, in front of the stage. To sit on the first gallery would cost another penny in the box which was held by a collector on the front of the stairs. To sit on the second gallery, you put another penny in the box held by the man at the second flight of stairs. Then when the show started, the men went and put the boxes in a room backstage the Elizabethan box office. Profits there were shared between members of the Globe company as such and the owners of the theatre (called housekeepers ), who included the James and his son the actor Richard Burbage and five others, one of them was William Shakespeare. Shakespeare received approximately 10% of the profit although he had a 20% stake holding in the troupe as James Burbage owned the lease for the land that the Globe theater was built on.The Globe was only in use until 1613, when on June 29 a fire broke out at the Globe Theatre . The canon used for special effects, such as heralding great entrances, was loaded with gunpowder and wadding. The thatched roof caught on fire and the Globe Theatre burned to the ground. It is not known whether there were any casualties but there must have been some panic. In 1614 the Globe Theatre was rebuilt (referred to as Globe 2). In 1642, under the force of the Puritans, the English Parliament issued an ordinance suppressing all stage plays in the theatres. The Puritans were a religious faction and the term came into general usage at the end of the reign of Queen Mary I (Bloody Mary). A broad definition of the puritans is those who wanted to completely change the Church of England, with its Roman Catholic type of structure and traditions, for another reformed and plain church model’. This strict religious view spread to encompass many social activities within England moving to a stricter code of conduct which deplored any kind of finery or flippant behaviours. 1642 was a truly eventful year for England. The Puritans, lead by Oliver Cromwell, who had been elected to Parliament came into total conflict with the Royalists lead by King Charles I. The English Civil war broke out. In 1644 the Globe Theatre was demolished by the Puritans. In 1647 Even stricter rules were passed regarding stage plays and theatres. This culminated in 1648 when all playhouses were ordered to be pulled down. All players were to be seized and whipped, and anyone caught attending a play to be fined five shillings. In 1649 the Civil War finally lead to the terrible execution of King Charles I . In 1653 Oliver Cromwell becomes Lord Protector of England. In 1658 Cromwell dies and the power of the Puritan starts to decline. In 1660 King Charles II is restored to the throne of England. With the Restoration of the English monarchy and , and the demise in the power of the Puritans in 1660 the theatres finally open again. But the Globe is never re-built. Please click the appropriate link to access a Timeline of the old Globe Theatre. The site of the old Globe theatre was rediscovered in the 20th century and a reconstruction of a New Globe Theatre has been built near the spot. Hope this helps!