Red Bull Theatre

The Red Bull Theatre was a playhouse created from an inn-yard in Clerkenwell, London, in the early 17th century. Built on St John Street near Smithfield’s cattle markets, it stood on land leased by Aaron Holland from Anne Bedingfeild. The theatre took its name from the drovers who passed along the street with herds bound for market. Its square shape matched other playhouses of the time, such as the Fortune Theatre. Evidence suggests it could hold as many spectators as the Globe. The Red Bull became home to the Queen Anne’s Men, a company backed by the Duke of Holstein and including actors like Thomas Greene and playwright Thomas Heywood. Their repertoire featured works by John Webster, Thomas Dekker and Christopher Marlowe. The playhouse earned a rough reputation, linked to riots and rowdy audiences. After the theatres closed in 1642, it briefly hosted illegal performances before reopening at the Restoration. Today, the site lies beneath modern buildings off Hayward’s Place. A 2018 plaque marks the spot where the passageway from the auditorium met St John Street. The space once echoed with farces, drolls and crowd-pleasing dramas before ending as a venue for fencing displays. The memory survives in the name of New York’s Red Bull Theater, founded in 2003.