Beckys Blog: The Hidden Treasures of Theatreland

Archaeology is not something that particularly interested me before last week, but as soon as I saw the remains of The Theatre, ie Shakespeare’s rehearsal space, I was hooked.

It was genuinely fascinating to be, or not to be, (sorry) face-to-face with the very foundations of the first ever theatre in the UK, built way back in 1576 in Shoreditch of all places. In Elizabethan London, the area of Shoreditch, central London, was situated tantalisingly just outside of the City walls – a place of debauchery, scandal and entertainment, where City people went to escape the rules of the institution, much like today.

I went along to the closing ceremony of the archaeological dig of The Theatre, a very exciting project in an unassuming side road off one of the busiest streets in the area. As trendy people grabbed a latte and went to work, just behind their glass-fronted offices lay the remains of the stage where William Shakespeare himself rehearsed plays he had just written. At the time The Theatre was in use, the Bard had penned The Merchant of Venice, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Romeo and Juliet, amongst others.

The foundations themselves were somewhat unassuming. Five centuries of building work had been excavated in an area not much bigger than the average terraced row, and to be frank it just looked like a building site. There was a nineteenth century well from the Victorian property that could have easily decimated the Elizabethan remains had it been built with a basement, a medieval cooking area and the piece de résistance, the compacted gravel of James Burbage’s theatre. Imagine the Globe, it would have been the same design. In fact, in 1598 when Burbage fell out with the landlord of the site, The Theatre structure was dismantled and carried across the Thames to South Bank to re-emerge as the Globe itself. Frustratingly, the remains of the actual stage and entrance to The Theatre lie beneath a housing block to the back of the site. Kick out the residents I say! This is important! But no, apparently they have rights.

I found the whole experience fascinating, even more so when a hard-hatted man emerged from beneath some scaffolding and presented the lead architect Heather Knight with his discovery. A perfectly preserved piece of Elizabethan pot, engraved with the careful image of a man wearing the dress of the time. We passed it round excitedly, being careful not to drop it. It is a shame that there is not more time to continue making important discoveries such as the pot, as the site must now be closed to make way for a new building. The fact that the new building will be home to the Tower Theatre Company is a lovely piece of symmetry. Actors who work there once it is opened in a year or two will work with the knowledge that this is the very spot where theatrics was born in the UK, five centuries ago.

Discoveries like this are what I love about London. You never know what’s just around the corner.