Shakespeare Theatre Discovered
Archaeologists at the Museum of London said they have discovered the very theatre foundation where William Shakespeare debuted the timeless plays "The Merchant of Venice" and "Romeo and Juliet".
Builders excavating the site unearthed "The Theatre," and called in museum archaeologists who had a eureka moment.
"We were there, scratching our heads, looking into the trenches, thinking, ‘this could be it,’" said Jo Lyon, a senior archaeologist at the museum. "So we did some more research, and then we found the angled walls. And we all went, ‘Oh my gosh, this should be it.’"
Archaeologists had thought for a long time The Theatre would be found on this particular site. But there are no maps, no images to show what it might have looked like, and only a vague description.
"It’s in the right place, it’s at the right angle to be a polygonal shape," Lyon said. "It’s a pretty high possibility."
The probable discovery of The Theatre could complete the set of open-air theaters where the Bard’s plays were staged. The Rose Theater’s location was discovered in 1989 in Bankside, just south of the River Thames in central London, and the Globe Theater is nearby.
A replica of the Globe was built on a site close to the original and opened in 1997.
During the 1590s, Shakespeare’s company, the Lord Chamberlain’s Men, moved into The Theatre. Prior to this, they had been performing at the Rose. But Martin Wiggins, a fellow at the Shakespeare Institute at the University of Birmingham, said a shake up in the London theater scene necessitated the move.
Wiggins said in 1597, a dispute with the landlord forced the company to move again. The company didn’t own the ground, but it did own the materials The Theatre was built with. So Lord Chamberlain’s Men dismantled the entire theater and moved it south across the River Thames, where it was rebuilt and renamed the Globe.
Archaeologists believe The Theatre’s foundations remained in east London, the site of the recent discovery.
"The first thing I want to know about it is what the foundations can tell us about the architecture," Wiggins said. "How big was it? How does it compare with the Rose? How does it compare with the Globe? How similar are they?"
Wiggins said Shakespearean scholars could understand more about this period in the playwright’s history with a better understanding of what the theater looked like.
"The size of the theater will have an impact on the way the play is written," he said.
Wiggins said, other works that would have been performed at The Theatre would have included "Henry IV,""Richard II,""King John," and "the Merry Wives of Windsor," Wiggins said.
Lyon doubts The Theatre’s complete foundations will ever be fully excavated. However, her team does intend to examine them further.
A new theater is planned for the site, ensuring the foundations below are protected.
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Image Caption: One of London’s earliest playhouses, Shoreditch (Courtesy Museum of London)
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