The Second London Playhouse
Make sure that you are
standing at position (3) on the map.
The Curtain Theatre was built about a year after The Theatre in 1577. It stayed open for forty five years, closing
in 1622.
The Curtain Theatre is named after a
curtain wall that surrounded a walled pasture near here. The Curtain was owned
by a Henry Lanman. When both theatres
were working, James Burbage and Lanman agreed to share the profits of The Theatre
and The Curtain for seven years, so it seems that they were not in direct
competition at this time.
This theatre was used by The Lord Chamberlain's Men in 1598 and 1599, performing some of Shakespeare's plays, until the Globe was built. The exact position of the Curtain
was only found a few years ago when a pavement consisting of lambs knuckle
bones was found – see this image.
The site of the Curtain theatre is currently being developed, to include a 40-storey tower, providing 385 homes, 250,000 sq ft of office space and 50,000 sq ft of retail space. The cost is estimated as around £750,000,000.
It has been promised that the historic remains of the Curtain will be preserved in a two-storey glass enclosure and will be shown next to a Shakespeare museum and an open-air performance space.
As of October 2016 the most interesting discovery is that the Curtain Theatre was rectangular, not a polygonal structure, as previously thought. The Curtain seems to have been built in the rectangular garden of a tenement (where the audience went in), with galleries for seating built down each side, and the stage across the bottom of the garden. Not a wooden 'O' after all!
Museum of London Archaeology have had access to do the excavation. Look at the MOLA web site to see the latest discoveries. http://www.mola.org.uk/search/site/curtain
The site of the Curtain theatre is currently being developed, to include a 40-storey tower, providing 385 homes, 250,000 sq ft of office space and 50,000 sq ft of retail space. The cost is estimated as around £750,000,000.
It has been promised that the historic remains of the Curtain will be preserved in a two-storey glass enclosure and will be shown next to a Shakespeare museum and an open-air performance space.
As of October 2016 the most interesting discovery is that the Curtain Theatre was rectangular, not a polygonal structure, as previously thought. The Curtain seems to have been built in the rectangular garden of a tenement (where the audience went in), with galleries for seating built down each side, and the stage across the bottom of the garden. Not a wooden 'O' after all!
Museum of London Archaeology have had access to do the excavation. Look at the MOLA web site to see the latest discoveries. http://www.mola.org.uk/search/site/curtain
The Curtain Theatre was also outside the City of London’s jurisdiction. A quote from “Playes Confuted” by Stephen
Gosson in 1582, although not mentioning the Curtain itself, gives a flavour of
early play going at the time of the second Shoreditch playhouse:
'In the playhouses at London, it is the
fashion of youths to go first into the yard, and to carry their eye through
every gallery, then like ravens, where they spy the carrion thither they fly,
and press as near to the fairest as they can... they give them apples, they
dally with their garments to pass the time, they minister talk upon odd
occasions, and either bring them home to their houses on small acquaintance, or
slip into taverns when the plays are done.'
Now
return to Curtain Road, and turn left. At the bend in the road continue into
Appold Street. Turn left into Primrose Street and halfway along turn right and
walk up the steps under the building.
See the Broadgate
Venus statue over to the left. It weighs five tons, and was made by Fernando Botero, a Columbian
artist in 1990. It is said to represent City greed.
Go right towards
Appold Street angain and go down steps.
Go past the Broad Family
statue. This is made of Basalt by the
Spanish artist Xavier Corbero in 1988. Look
for the shoes and dog!
Turn left
into Appold Street again. Go past All Bar One, then turn left at Starbucks and
walk into the space between the buildings.
When you
get to the square with Goucho’s in it, go to the opposite corner and see the
Rush Hour statue made by the American artist, George Segal in 1987. Segal encased real people in plaster and used
that to mould the statue.
Straight
on down Finsbury Avenue past the statue Belleraphon taming Pegasus statue, made
in 1977 by Jacques Lipchitz, a Lithuanian Cubist.
Turn right
at Eldon Street (near Maplins). Eldon
Street turns into South Place. At the
junction with Moorgate turn left and continue to London Wall. At London Wall,
turn right and continue until you reach Noble Street on the left (marked 4 on the map).
