The Theatre

The Theatre stood in Shoreditch, now part of the London Borough of Hackney, just beyond the northern edge of the City of London. Built in 1576 by James Burbage with money from his brother-in-law John Brayne, it was the first permanent playhouse in England built only for plays. The site had once been the grounds of the dissolved Halliwell Priory. The area was outside the city’s control, known for brothels and gaming houses, but soon became London’s first theatre district with the nearby Curtain Theatre. The playhouse mattered because it housed some of the most important acting companies of the age. The Lord Chamberlain’s Men performed there with William Shakespeare as both actor and playwright. Shakespeare’s early plays premiered on its stage, and Richard Burbage became its leading actor. After a legal dispute with the landlord Giles Allen, the Burbages dismantled the building and reused its timber to build the Globe Theatre on Bankside. Visitors today would find no standing remains, but the site lies near Curtain Road in Shoreditch. The Theatre was a polygonal wooden building with three galleries around an open yard. A thrust stage jutted from one side, and the yard had cobblestones for penny-paying groundlings. Wealthy patrons could sit in divided compartments in one gallery. Though little is known of its exact appearance, it was described as an amphitheatre.