Theatre History

Further to Andy’s post on story, this post asks questions about the nature and necessity of coherent “story”—and of audiences following “plot”—in early modern commercial dramatic performance.

On Sunday, we, the Dolphin’s Back, and a room-full of participants were lucky enough to see the history of the Blackfriars and the First Playhouse brought to life on the very spot on which it once stood.

Who visited the Elizabethan playhouses? What did it mean to have non-English characters being played on stage? What does dramatic engagement with issues of immigration, identity, and belonging tell us about sixteenth-century theatre?

On the 19th November 2017, the TIDE project and Before Shakespeare are hosting a workshop exploring the diverse audiences of Elizabethan playhouses and their surrounding neighbourhoods, based at the University of Liverpool’s London campus, 33 Finsbury Square.

She’s got it, Yeah baby, she’s got it ---Shocking Blue

Following Laurie Johnson's introduction to the area, we are thankful to Sally-Beth MacLean for some archival insight into Jerome Savage and the playhouse in our second feature on the Newington Butts Playhouse (with MS images courtesy of The National Archives and Canterbury Cathedral Archives)...