The outdoor theatres of Tudor London

Today, London is internationally famous for its theatres. You can see cutting-edge plays and show-stopping musicals across London: in the famous West End, in small independent theatres and at historic playhouses scattered around the city.

But London is equally worshipped as the historic stomping ground of William Shakespeare – arguably the greatest ever playwright. His fame was forged in a golden age of English drama – the late 1500s – which played out in open-air theatres around the city.

This was the first time professional actors performed at theatres built specifically to house plays for the public. The theatre scene thrived at Bankside in Southwark, on the south bank of the Thames. But others were found north of the city walls in Shoreditch and Cripplegate.

In the medieval period, shows and religious mystery plays were performed in palaces and noble houses, or on temporary stages in inns or markets.

That changed in the 16th century. Outdoor playhouses sprouted in several places, borrowing their open-air setting from bull- and bear-baiting arenas. Most copied the round or many-sided shape too – a “wooden O” as Shakespeare called it in his play Henry V. These theatres became wildly popular venues.

Our collection includes objects found during excavations of the Rose theatre, including money pots which were possibly used for taking ticket fees or collecting money for the snacks sold inside the theatre.

Built in 1577, this was London’s first purpose-built outdoor playhouse, although it also hosted fencing competitions.

Just three years earlier, a law had banned the building of any playhouses in the centre of London. That’s why all of the theatres mentioned here were built in the suburbs, beyond the city’s walls and its laws.

In 1598, The Theatre was pulled down, with the timber used to construct the Globe in Southwark. The remains of the Theatre were discovered in 2008 by archaeologists from MOLA.

London’s second open-air playhouse was built nearby, on Curtain Close, Finsbury Fields, in 1577. The Museum of Shakespeare now occupies the site, allowing you to view the remains of the stage, uncovered by archaeologists from MOLA between 2011 and 2016.

The Chamberlain’s Men, the company which Shakespeare wrote for and acted with, performed here. Writing in the early 17th century, an Italian visitor named Antimo Galli described the Curtain as “a place as dubious as they come, and where you would never see the face of a gentleman, let alone a nobleman”.

South London’s first theatre was also built around 1577 on the road that headed to Portsmouth. It remained open for almost 20 years. Today, the site lies under the junction at Elephant and Castle and hasn’t been excavated. Its distance from the other Bankside theatres may have made it less successful. The Chamberlain’s Men also played here.

This was the first of the Bankside theatres. There was no physical evidence of its existence until 1989, when the site was discovered. Our collection includes a wide variety of objects from that excavation, including a ring, dagger guard and a fork.

The Rose was polygonal, meaning many-sided. Around 500 “groundlings” could watch the stage from the central yard, while 1,100 more could watch from the three tiers of galleries surrounding it. The different viewing options and the affordable prices made these theatres a place where people of all classes gathered – a rare thing in Tudor society. The Rose was demolished in 1606.

The Swan was built in 1595. In 1596, John de Witt, a Dutch politician visiting from Utrecht, said: “Of all the theatres… the largest and most distinguished is that whereof the sign is a swan… since it contains 3,000 persons.”

You can see the Swan in the earliest known oil painting of London, with a flag flying above its roof to show that there was a performance on that day. From the late 16th century until 1642, London never had fewer than four regular companies, who performed daily.

This is undoubtedly the most famous of the Tudor theatres. The Globe was built in 1599, using timber from The Theatre in Shoreditch. The remains of the Globe were discovered in 1989, the same year as the Rose.

The original Globe was built by the Lord Chamberlain’s Men. It’s thought that the first of Shakespeare’s plays to be performed here was Julius Caesar.

The first Globe burned down in 1613 after a fake cannon misfired. It was quickly rebuilt and remained open until 1642, when the English Civil Wars brought a ban on mass gatherings. The Puritans – a strict Protestant movement who then came to power – disapproved of popular entertainment, resulting in the closure of all London’s theatres.

In 1997, a reconstruction of the Globe was built at Bankside, a short distance from the original site. Shakespeare’s plays are still performed here today, giving you the chance to experience the Tudor world of theatre.

The Fortune was built in 1600 on Golden Lane, now just north of the Barbican, during the reign of Elizabeth I. The design mimicked the Globe, and the same contractor worked on its construction. The entrance featured a statue of the goddess of fortune.

The first performance there was by the Admiral’s Men, a company closely linked to the famous writer Christopher Marlowe.

In 1621 the Fortune also burned down, but was rebuilt and remained standing until the 1660s. Although performances were banned there in 1642, some illegal performances continued.

The last of the Bankside playhouses, the Hope was built in 1614 during the reign of James I. It also appears in the oil painting of Southwark in 1600 from our collection. The theatre was designed so that it could also be used for bear-baiting. Its foundations were discovered in 2001.

Bartholomew’s Fair, by the playwright Ben Johnson, was written to be performed at the Hope.