Shakespearean Playhouses | Page 2

desire to express my gratitude to Mr. Hamilton Bell and the editor of The Architectural Record for permission to reproduce the illustration and description of Inigo Jones's plan of the Cockpit; to the Governors of Dulwich College for permission to reproduce three portraits from the Dulwich Picture Gallery, one of which, that of Joan Alleyn, has not previously been reproduced; to Mr. C.W. Redwood, formerly technical artist at Cornell University, for expert assistance in making the large map of London showing the sites of the playhouses, and for other help generously rendered; and to my colleagues, Professor Lane Cooper and Professor Clark S. Northup, for their kindness in reading the proofs.
JOSEPH QUINCY ADAMS
ITHACA, NEW YORK

CONTENTS
I. THE INN-YARDS 1
II. THE HOSTILITY OF THE CITY 18
III. THE THEATRE 27
IV. THE CURTAIN 75
V. THE FIRST BLACKFRIARS 91
VI. ST. PAUL'S 111
VII. THE BANKSIDE AND THE BEAR GARDEN 119
VIII. NEWINGTON BUTTS 134
IX. THE ROSE 142
X. THE SWAN 161
XI. THE SECOND BLACKFRIARS 182
XII. THE GLOBE 234
XIII. THE FORTUNE 267
XIV. THE RED BULL 294
XV. WHITEFRIARS 310
XVI. THE HOPE 324
XVII. ROSSETER'S BLACKFRIARS, OR PORTER'S HALL 342
XVIII. THE PHOENIX, OR COCKPIT IN DRURY LANE 348
XIX. SALISBURY COURT 368
XX. THE COCKPIT-IN-COURT, OR THEATRE ROYAL AT WHITEHALL 384
XXI. MISCELLANEOUS: WOLF'S THEATRE IN NIGHTINGALE LANE; THE PROJECTED "AMPHITHEATRE"; OGILBY'S DUBLIN THEATRE; THE FRENCH PLAYERS' TEMPORARY THEATRE IN DRURY LANE; DAVENANT'S PROJECTED THEATRE IN FLEET STREET 410
BIBLIOGRAPHY 433
MAPS AND VIEWS OF LONDON 457
INDEX 461

ILLUSTRATIONS
MAP OF LONDON SHOWING THE PLAYHOUSES Frontispiece
AN INN-YARD 4
MAP OF LONDON SHOWING THE INN-PLAYHOUSES 9
THE SITE OF THE FIRST PLAYHOUSES 27
THE SITE OF THE FIRST PLAYHOUSES 31
A PLAN OF BURBAGE'S HOLYWELL PROPERTY 33
THE SITE OF THE CURTAIN PLAYHOUSE 79
BLACKFRIARS MONASTERY 93
THE SITE OF THE TWO BLACKFRIARS PLAYHOUSES 94
A PLAN OF FARRANT'S PLAYHOUSE 97
THE BANKSIDE 120
THE BANKSIDE 121
THE BEAR- AND BULL-BAITING RINGS 123
THE BEAR GARDEN 127
THE BEAR GARDEN AND THE ROSE 147
THE BEAR GARDEN AND THE ROSE 149
JOAN WOODWARD ALLEYN 152
THE MANOR OF PARIS GARDEN AND THE SWAN PLAYHOUSE 163
THE SWAN PLAYHOUSE 165
THE INTERIOR OF THE SWAN PLAYHOUSE 169
PLAN ILLUSTRATING THE SECOND BLACKFRIARS PLAYHOUSE 187
REMAINS OF BLACKFRIARS 196
RICHARD BURBAGE 234
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE 238
A PLAN OF THE GLOBE PROPERTY 242
THE BEAR GARDEN, THE ROSE, AND THE FIRST GLOBE 245
THE BEAR GARDEN, THE ROSE, AND THE FIRST GLOBE 246
THE FIRST GLOBE 248
THE FIRST GLOBE 253
MERIAN'S VIEW OF LONDON 256
THE SECOND GLOBE 260
THE TRADITIONAL SITE OF THE GLOBE 262
THE SITE OF THE FORTUNE PLAYHOUSE 270
THE FORTUNE PLAYHOUSE? 278
EDWARD ALLEYN 282
THE SITE OF THE RED BULL PLAYHOUSE 294
A PLAN OF WHITEFRIARS 312
MICHAEL DRAYTON 314
THE SITES OF THE WHITEFRIARS AND THE SALISBURY COURT PLAYHOUSES 318
THE HOPE PLAYHOUSE, OR SECOND BEAR GARDEN 326
THE HOPE PLAYHOUSE, OR SECOND BEAR GARDEN 331
THE SITE OF THE COCKPIT IN DRURY LANE 350
A PLAN OF THE SALISBURY COURT PROPERTY 371
THE COCKPIT AT WHITEHALL 390
INIGO JONES'S PLANS FOR THE COCKPIT-IN-COURT 396
FISHER'S SURVEY OF WHITEHALL SHOWING THE COCKPIT-IN-COURT 398
THE THEATRO OLYMPICO AT VICENZA 399
THE COCKPIT-IN-COURT 407

SHAKESPEAREAN PLAYHOUSES
CHAPTER I
THE INN-YARDS
Before the building of regular playhouses the itinerant troupes of actors were accustomed, except when received into private homes, to give their performances in any place that chance provided, such as open street-squares, barns, town-halls, moot-courts, schoolhouses, churches, and--most frequently of all, perhaps--the yards of inns. These yards, especially those of carriers' inns, were admirably suited to dramatic representations, consisting as they did of a large open court surrounded by two or more galleries. Many examples of such inn-yards are still to be seen in various parts of England; a picture of the famous White Hart, in Southwark, is given opposite page 4 by way of illustration. In the yard a temporary platform--a few boards, it may be, set on barrel-heads[1]--could be erected for a stage; in the adjacent stables a dressing-room could be provided for the actors; the rabble--always the larger and more enthusiastic part of the audience--could be accommodated with standing-room about the stage; while the more aristocratic members of the audience could be comfortably seated in the galleries overhead. Thus a ready-made and very serviceable theatre was always at the command of the players; and it seems to have been frequently made use of from the very beginning of professionalism in acting.
[Footnote 1: "Thou shalt not need to travel with thy pumps full of gravel any more, after a blind jade and a hamper, and stalk upon boards and barrel-heads." (Poetaster, III, i.)]
One of the earliest extant moralities, Mankind, acted by strollers in the latter half of the fifteenth century, gives us an interesting glimpse of an inn-yard performance. The opening speech makes distinct reference to the two classes of the audience described above as occupying the galleries and the yard:
O ye sovereigns that sit, and ye brothers that stand right up.
The "brothers," indeed, seem to have stood up so closely about the stage that the actors had great difficulty in passing to and from their dressing-room. Thus, Nowadays leaves the stage with the