Shakespearean Playhouses: A History of English Theatres from the Beginnings to the RestorationAdams, Joseph Quincy
History
Shakespearean Playhouses: A History of English Theatres from the Beginnings to the Restoration
Adams, Joseph Quincy
Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 -- Stage history -- To 1625; Theaters -- England -- London -- History
At this time, apparently, the Rose was still undergoing repairs; so
Henslowe sent both the Admiral's and the Chamberlain's Men to act at
Newington Butts, where they remained from June 3 to June 13, 1594. On
June 15 the Admiral's Men moved back to the Rose, which henceforth
they occupied alone; and the Chamberlain's Men, thus robbed of their
playhouse, went to the Theatre in Shoreditch.
During the period of Lent, 1595, Henslowe took occasion to make
further repairs on his playhouse, putting in new pales, patching the
exterior with new lath and plaster, repainting the woodwork, and
otherwise furbishing up the building. The total cost of this work was
L108 10_s._ And shortly after, as a part of these improvements, no
doubt, he paid L7 2_s._ for "making the throne in the heavens."[227]
[Footnote 227: Greg, _Henslowe's Diary_, I, 4.]
Near the close of July, 1597, Pembroke's Men at the Swan acted Nashe's
satirical play, _The Isle of Dogs_, containing, it seems, a burlesque
on certain persons high in authority. As a result the Privy Council on
July 28 ordered all acting in and about London to cease until November
1, and all public playhouses to be plucked down and ruined.[228]
[Footnote 228: For the details of this episode see the chapter on the
Swan.]
The latter part of the order, happily, was not put into effect, and on
October 11 the Rose was allowed to open again. The Privy Council,
however, punished the Swan and Pembroke's Company by ordering that
only the Admiral's Men at the Rose and the Chamberlain's Men at the
Curtain should henceforth be "allowed." As a consequence of this
trouble with the authorities the best actors of Pembroke's Company
joined the Admiral's Men under Henslowe. This explains the entry in
the _Diary_: "In the name of God, amen. The xi of October began my
Lord Admiral's and my Lord Pembroke's Men to play at my house,
1597."[229] The two companies were very soon amalgamated, and the
strong troupe thus formed continued to act at the Rose under the name
of the Admiral's Men.
[Footnote 229: Greg, _Henslowe's Diary_, I, 54.]
The Chamberlain's Men, who in 1594 had been forced to surrender the
Rose to the Admiral's Men and move to the Theatre, and who in 1597 had
been driven from the Theatre to the Curtain, at last, in 1599, built
for themselves a permanent home, the Globe, situated on the Bankside
and close to the Rose. Henslowe's ancient structure[230] was eclipsed
by this new and handsome building, "the glory of the Bank"; and the
Admiral's Men, no doubt, felt themselves placed at a serious
disadvantage. As a result, in the spring of 1600, Henslowe and Alleyn
began the erection of a splendid new playhouse, the Fortune, designed
to surpass the Globe in magnificence, and to furnish a suitable and
permanent home for the Admiral's Men. The building was situated in the
suburb to the north of the city, far away from the Bankside and the
Globe.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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