The Theater

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Theater
Land drawing of The Theater. The “common sewer” marks today's Curtain Road and the “ditch from the horse-pond” marks the New Inn Yard road
location
Address: Curtain Road / corner of New Inn Yard (today's street names)
City: London (Shoreditch)
Coordinates: 51 ° 31 '29 "  N , 0 ° 4' 48"  W Coordinates: 51 ° 31 '29 "  N , 0 ° 4' 48"  W.
Architecture and history
Opened: 1576
Removed on December 28, 1598 parts of it to build the Globe Theaters related

The Theater was an Elizabethan theater in Shoreditch , just outside London. It was the second permanent theater after the Red Lion since Roman times and also the first building that was built for the sole purpose of theatrical performance. It was built by acting manager James Burbage not far from his residence on Halliwell Street (or Holywell Lane). After the lease expired (James Burbage died shortly before) the theater was dismantled and the material was used to build the Globe Theater .

Emergence

In 1572 the Mayor and the Corporation of London banned the drama as one of the measures against the plague, which was rampant at the time (no foreign visitors should come to the city for this). In 1575 they also officially expelled all actors from the city. Outside the city ​​walls of London , however, they found new opportunities. This and the lack of jurisdiction of the Lord Mayor of London favored the construction of theaters; so in Shoreditch, Southwark and the incorporated Newington Butts settlement very close to the established entertainment district, which also benefited from the less stringent regulations that applied in the city.

The Theater was built in 1576 by James Burbage in partnership with his wealthy brother-in-law, John Brayne. James Burbage needed a lot of money to build the theater and loaned his brother-in-law; In return, he received part of the profit and owned some of the real estate on the leased property of a former nunnery. The Theater was in Shoreditch, across the northern border from London and thus outside the jurisdiction of the civil authorities. This area was also called the “suburb of sin” and was notorious for dissolute behavior, brothels and places of gambling. A year later, another theater called The Curtain was built nearby, making the area considered the first theater and entertainment district in London. Since James Burbage had never signed a written contract with his brother-in-law, this eventually led to disputes over who had to finance what share of the theater. Financial bottlenecks also forced the two of them to play in the theater during the construction phase. The income then flowed directly into further construction. John Hind was another lender for the theater's construction. However, almost nothing is known about him other than that there was also a contract between him and Burbage / Brayne. This meant that he probably arranged actors for her.

Although Burbage's son later claimed that the theater was the first permanent playhouse in the metropolitan area of ​​London, Newington Butts could possibly have been built as early as 1575. Actor Jerome Savage renewed his lease on March 25, 1576, three weeks before Burbage received his in Shoreditch. Lady Day, Wickham, et al. established Newington Butts clearly in 1577. The documents that have survived indicate that Savage converted an existing building (builder Richard Hicks ) into a theater instead of building a new one like Burbage.

The theater

The design of The Theater may have been adopted by inns that previously served as theater venues. The building was a polygonal wooden structure with three galleries around an open courtyard. An arena stage extended into the interior from one side of the polygon . The theater was a wooden building with (presumably) a tile roof; other materials used to build the theater were sand, lime, lead and iron. The The Theater aims to build 700 pounds have cost. Previously only 200 pounds were estimated, which then led to the later financing problems.

The space in front of the stage was paved with cobblestones and offered cheap standing room for a penny each for the less affluent audience. For another penny you could go into the gallery, but also only standing. A third penny was spent on a chair. One of the galleries - which remains unclear in the sources - was divided into small sections or boxes that could be used by the rich and aristocrats. Not much more is known about the actual appearance of the theater due to a lack of evidence, but it has been described as an amphitheater .

The theater may have opened in the fall of 1576 as the venue for Leicester's Men , an acting company of which James Burbage was a senior member. From November 1590 to May 1591 the Admiral's Men played temporarily in The Theater due to disputes with the authorities . It was u. a. brought the piece "Dead Man's Fortune" to the stage. In addition to Edward Alleyn , the ensemble also included James' youngest son Richard Burbage , who later built the Globe Theater with William Shakespeare and others. After a disagreement with James Burbage, some ensembles left The Theater and moved to the Rose Theater under the direction of Philip Henslowe .

In 1594 Richard Burbage became the leading actor in Lord Chamberlain's Men , who played there until 1597. The poet, playwright and actor William Shakespeare premiered some of his early plays in the theater. Numerous appearances in front of Elizabeth I followed.

The end

In late 1596 there were disputes with the landlord, Giles Allen . The lease from 1576 was limited to 20 years (£ 14 a year) and, according to a clause, could only have been extended for another five years. Burbage complained against this. When he died in the spring of 1597, his sons Richard and Cuthbert continued the legal battle. As a result, the actors of Lord Chamberlain's Men were forced to relocate their performances to other theaters, such as the nearby The Curtain .

Braynes' widow, Margaret , and her business partner, Robert Myles, also filed a lawsuit against the Burbages because Margaret was claiming half of The Theater for herself. Because when John Brayne died, the Burbages stopped paying profit distributions and loan repayments to their now deceased business partner. To finance the theater, John Brayne and James Burbage pledged the lease for £ 125 to the London greengrocer John Hyde . Since he had only received £ 95 back so far, he was still the actual tenant. Now Cuthbert, Burbage's eldest son, went to Walter Cope, a trustworthy businessman, and had Cope Hyde ask whether Cuthbert could replace the lease directly with the remaining £ 30 and thus become the sole tenant. He agreed and so Cuthbert immediately owned the lease and the brothers managed to force Margaret Brayne out of business. They justified this with the fact that John Brayne, now that the lease was in Cuthbert's name and no longer in James' name, no longer had any connection with the theater and Margaret Brayne, as his heiress, did not either.

However, during the litigation, Margaret and Robert Myles went to the theater and demanded the surrender of half of what was in it. Here Richard Burbage attacked Myles physically, so that the Brayne and Myles had to leave without having achieved anything. Two more lawsuits by Myles against the Burbages also failed. Even after Margaret Brayne's death, there were other complaints, but they have not been resolved. In her will, she left all of her potential winnings to Robert Myles.

This situation forced the Burbage brothers to take drastic measures to keep their investments. Against the will of the landlord and with the help of their friend and financier William Smith and 10-12 workers they dismantled the theater on the night of December 28, 1598. Giles Allen sued one of the people involved in the dismantling ( Peter Street ) for trespassing and in January 1599 Property damage.

Archaeological research

In August 2008, archaeologists from the Museum of London found what was left of the northeast corner of the theater. In addition, leftovers from meals consumed during the performances, such as nuts or apple stalks. A plaque can be found on a building on Courtain Road, roughly where The Theater was previously.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Der Sturm , information from the Waidspeicher Theater , PDF 1.4 MB
  2. ↑ a b Wherefore art thou? Exhibition celebrates Shakespeare's Shoreditch origins from The Guardian on August 29, 2018
  3. ^ A b Thomas Fairman Ordish (Ed.): Early London Theaters: In the Fields . Broadview Press, 1899, pp. 30 (English, archive.org ).
  4. ↑ Bowsher, Julian; Miller, Pat (2010). The Rose and the Globe — Playhouses of Shakespeare's Bankside, Southwark. Museum of London. P. 19. ISBN 978-1-901992-85-4 .
  5. ↑ Stephen, Leslie, ed., 1886, "Burbage, James". Dictionary of National Biography 7. London: Smith, Elder & Co. p. 285.
  6. ^ Mullaney, 1988.
  7. ↑ Herbert Berry. "Brayne and his other brother-in-law". Shakespeare Studies. Literature Resource Center. online Brayne and his other brother-in-law , accessed September 22, 2019.
  8. ↑ Jump up to: abcde Berry, Herbert. English Professional Theater, 1530-1660. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000
  9. ↑ David Mateer. "New Light On The Early History Of The Theater In Shoreditch [with texts]", English Literary Renaissance 36.3 (2006): p. 335
  10. ^ Gladstone Wickham, Glynne William; Berry, Herbert; Ingram, William (2000), English professional theater, 1530-1660, Cambridge University Press, p. 320, ISBN 978-0-521-23012-4
  11. ^ Ingram, William (1992), The business of playing: the beginnings of the adult professional theater in Elizabethan London, Cornell University Press, p. 164, ISBN 978-0-8014-2671-1
  12. ↑ Ingram (1992) p170
  13. ↑ Wickham et al. (2000) p. 321
  14. ^ Egan, 2005.
  15. ↑ a b Information from Shakespearean London Theaters (ShaLT)
  16. ↑ James Burbage in the Dictionary of National Biography , 1885-1900, Volume 07
  17. ^ Capp, Bernard. "The Burbages At Law (Again)." Notes & Queries 47.4 (2000): 433. Academic Search Complete. Web. 11th March 2013.
  18. ↑ Shapiro, James (2005). 1599 — a year in the life of William Shakespeare. London: Faber and Faber. ISBN 0-571-21480-0 .
  19. ↑ Schoenbaum 1987: pages 206-209
  20. ↑ Hamilton, Fiona (August 6, 2008). "Dig reveals The Theater - Shakespeare's first playhouse" . The Times Online. Retrieved September 22, 2019
  21. ↑ "The Bard's 'first theater' found" , BBC News . August 6, 2008, accessed September 22, 2019
  22. ^ "Shakespeare's first theater found" BBC News Online March 9, 2009, accessed September 22, 2019