Cockpit Theatre

The Cockpit was an early 17th-century playhouse in Westminster, built inside a round gaming hall from Henry VIII’s time. The original cockpit stood near Drury Lane, its peaked roof rising over a space about 12 metres wide. After rioting apprentices wrecked the first playhouse in 1617, Christopher Beeston rebuilt it and renamed it the Phoenix. The new theatre measured roughly 16 by 11 metres, smaller than the Blackfriars but finely fitted. Architectural drawings once linked to Inigo Jones suggest the interior may have been his work, though proof is lacking. The Cockpit mattered because it hosted several famous acting troupes in the 1600s. Queen Anne’s Men played there from 1617 until 1619, followed by Prince Charles’s Men and Lady Elizabeth’s Men. Queen Henrietta’s Men occupied the stage from 1625 to 1636, and Beeston’s own boy actors finished the run before the Civil War. Samuel Pepys visited after the Restoration and recorded several evenings in his diary between 1660 and 1663. Today the site lies beneath Martlett Court, a narrow passage off Drury Lane. The theatre’s entrance once opened into Cockpit Alley, now vanished but once running between Drury Lane and Great Wild Street. The area is still framed by Great Queen Street and Kemble Street, keeping the old playhouse’s footprint alive in street names and courts.