Adeola Ogunbadewa is a research intern at the School of English at the University of Kent, where she is going into her final year reading for a BA in Spanish and Religious Studies. She has been working on a project to develop a timeline of play events and performances at the Curtain playhouse. The Curtain, in … Continue reading Repertory and Reputation at the Curtain
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Pass Ye Remote: A Quest for Early Modern Entertainment Through Online Learning Resources
Welcome to Elizabethan England via the digital world! We're lucky to have a range of exciting and innovative online resources at our disposal that make it possible to explore the entertainment and cultural activities of early modern England through our computer screens. This post (in collaboration with Middling Culture) takes the form of "remote quest(ions)" … Continue reading Pass Ye Remote: A Quest for Early Modern Entertainment Through Online Learning Resources
It Was the Summer of ’79, at the Curtain Playhouse
It’s recently proved effective for critics and historians to conjure a thick cultural history by concentrating on one particular year (e.g. 1611; 1606…). Even the arguably patchier nature of theatre history has lent itself to studies concentrated on a specific date: think, for instance, James Shapiro’s entertaining account of the Globe, 1599. Writing a Year-in-a-Playhouse … Continue reading It Was the Summer of ’79, at the Curtain Playhouse
Christmas, Newyeares tyde: A summary of works done and attendance given, 2018
The Elizabethan Office of the Revels begins an important section of its yearly account books headed "Christmas, Newyeares tyde, & Twelfetyde" with descriptions of "Woorkes doone & Attendaunce geven Abowte the new making, Translating, ffytting, ffurnishing, garnishing, setting owte & Taking in againe, Making cleane & safe bestowing of sundry kyndes of Apparell properties, ffurniture, & … Continue reading Christmas, Newyeares tyde: A summary of works done and attendance given, 2018
The Curtain Rises: Post Match Report
On Saturday 21st, we enjoyed seeing the puffed-up knight Huanebango being struck down by a disembodied voice, entering a sixteenth-century smoking area, meeting the cosmopolitan neighbours of 1580s Shoreditch, and learning how to use a sword and buckler... Here at Before Shakespeare we’ve already hit the bar. Here is a love jug, a fear god … Continue reading The Curtain Rises: Post Match Report
The Curtain Rises (21 July 2018)
On 21 July, we and MOLA, The Stage, and The Dolphin's Back will explore the history and future possibilities for the Curtain playhouse with a public audience at Hackney House. Tickets are available on Eventbrite. The Curtain is one of the earliest playhouses of the Elizabethan period, open by 1577, discovered in 2011, and excavated … Continue reading The Curtain Rises (21 July 2018)
Before Shakespeare 