Building    From 1577  To 1642

Curtain Theatre

Categories: Theatre

This, the second English purpose-built playhouse was erected very close to the first, The Theatre, and run by the same man, Burbage.  Not named for the modern drape on a proscenium arch, but for its proximity to the old curtain wall of Holywell Priory. Long plain sections of wall are still known to those in the know as "curtain walls".

Here, in this "wooden O", Shakespeare performed and Henry V was staged. Ceased operating somewhere between 1622 and the Civil War, 1642. In 2008, the Museum of London unearthed the footings of the Theatre and a new theatre is set to be built on the site.

 

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This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
Curtain Theatre

Commemorated ati

Curtain Theatre - Curtain Road

On this site stood The Curtain Theatre (1577 - 1599) William Shakespeare firs...

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Curtain Theatre - Hewett Street

Near this site stood The Curtain Theatre, 1577 - c.1627, second English publi...

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Other Subjects

Richard D'Oyly Carte

Richard D'Oyly Carte

Theatre impresario. Born Greek Street. Suggested that Sullivan should work on Gilbert's "Trial by Jury" and staged the first performance in 1875. In 1879 D'Oyly Carte's Opera Company was formed and...

Person, Commerce, Music / songs, Seriously Famous, Theatre

5 memorials
Sir Henry Irving

Sir Henry Irving

Actor-manager. Born in Keinton-Mandeville, Somerset. Brought up in near poverty and was afflicted with a pronounced speech impediment. The first actor to be knighted. 1878 - 1902 he managed the Lyc...

Person, Theatre

8 memorials
J.B. Priestley

J.B. Priestley

Novelist, playwright and essayist. Wrote "When we are married" and "An Inspector Calls".

Person, Literature, Theatre

1 memorial
Bycullah Athenaeum

Bycullah Athenaeum

A popular venue for plays and concerts, performed by local drama and music societies. until it was destroyed by fire. The name derives from the nearby Bycullah estate which was developed from 1879,...

Building, Theatre

1 memorial
Chester Players

Chester Players

The clergy encouraged the staging of mystery plays from around 1350.  Performed in English these taught the Christian stories to the people who could not read, nor understand the Latin used in chur...

Group, Theatre

1 memorial

Previously viewed

London County Council

London County Council

Prior to the LCC London matters were run by church parishes. The LCC was the first directly elected strategic local government body for London. Replaced by the Greater London Council, covering a la...

Group, Politics & Administration

283 memorials
Nicola Adams

Nicola Adams

Boxer. Born in Leeds. She fought (and won) her first bout at the age of thirteen. She won several medals in her career, before becoming the first woman boxer to win a medal in the 2012 Olympic Game...

Person, Sport / Games

1 memorial
Barnabas Steel

Barnabas Steel

Possible original owner of what was to become Palingswick House.

Person, Property

1 memorial
Neville Chamberlain

Neville Chamberlain

As Prime Minister in September 1938, according to his policy of appeasement, Chamberlain signed the Munich Agreement with Hitler which appeared to avert war by sacrificing the Sudetenland. ('Peace ...

Person, Politics & Administration

3 memorials