8 Reasons Why The Curtain Was The Most Underrated Elizabethan Playhouse

The Curtain Theatre was an Elizabethan playhouse located in Hewett Street, Shoreditch (part of the modern London Borough of Hackney), just outside the City of London. It opened in 1577, and continued staging plays until 1624.

1. The Curtain was located in Shoreditch (formally called the Suburbs of Sin), one of the most hipster, popular London areas today.

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The Curtain was the second London playhouse, built in 1577, next to the Theatre, north of the London Wall. It had the same structure as the Theatre, only slightly smaller, and at times the two were under the same management. Today, Shoreditch has, since around 1996, become a popular and fashionable part of London. Often conflated with neighboring Hoxton, the area has been subject to considerable gentrification in the past twenty years, with accompanying rises in land and property prices. In fact, the word Shoreditch is now synonymous with the concept of contemporary 'hipsterfication' of regenerated urban areas. As a pioneer among similar transformations across the UK, various phrases have been coined, from "Shoreditchification" to "Very Shoreditch."

2. From 1597 to 1599, The Curtain became the premier venue of Shakespeare's Company, the Lord Chamberlain's Men.

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The Curtain was used by many popular acting companies after the Chamberlain's Men, including the Queen's Men (from 1603-1609), and the Prince Charles' Company (after 1621), but there is no record of the Curtain after 1627. The Curtain was where the Bard premiered Henry V. The 'wooden O' description comes from the prologue: 'Can this Cock-Pit hold within this Woodden O, the very Caskes that did affright the Ayre at Agincourt?' Above, an RSC production of the show in Stratford upon Avon.

3. The Curtain was a rectangular playhouse, unlike the other famous Elizabethan playhouses

In 2012, archaeologists from MOLA (Museum of London Archaeology) announced that they had discovered the remains of the theatre during trial excavations. In May 2016, excavators announced that the theatre was a purpose built and, unusually, the theatre was rectangular rather than round or polygonal. Walls survived up to 1.5 meters high in places; MOLA identified the courtyard, where theatergoers stood, and the inner walls, which held the galleries. The theatre had timber galleries with mid and upper areas for wealthier audience members, and a courtyard made from compacted gravel for those with less to spend. The galleries were straight.

4. The Curtain was built in less than six months!

In 1574, the City of London began to regulate the Inn-yard activities. The theatrical entrepreneurs reacted by building purpose built wooden theaters such as the Curtain. It was constructed in the style of an open-air Roman amphitheater to give it the air of respectability and a classical connection. The Curtain was created in about six months, using cheap building materials to help boost profits. The open-air arena of the amphitheater was called the 'pit' or 'yard'. The stage of the amphitheater projected halfway into the 'pit'. The Curtain had a raised stage at one end which was surrounded by three tiers of roofed galleries with balconies overlooking the back of the stage.

5. The phrase, "this wooden O" supposedly was written by Shakespeare to describe The Curtain.

It was the venue of several of Shakespeare's plays, including Romeo and Juliet (which gained "Curtain plaudits") and Henry V. In this latter play, the somewhat undistinguished Curtain gained immortal fame by being described by Shakespeare as "this wooden O". The Lord Chamberlain's Men also performed Ben Jonson's Every Man in His Humour here in 1598, with Shakespeare in the cast. Later that same year, Jonson gained a certain notoriety by killing actor Gabriel Spencer in a duel in nearby Hoxton Fields.

6. The Curtain is one of the best preserved theaters in terms of its internal set-up.

Archaeologists have found the foundation walls that housed rows of wooden seating and two sections of exterior wall, which helped them ascertain the dimensions of the Curtain. Playgoers put one penny in a box at the entrance. At the start of the play, admission collectors put the boxes in a room backstage called the box office. The dig also unearthed bits of a broken clay pipe, as well as later china and wall tiles.

7. The Curtain was incredibly successful until the Bubonic Plague. After, it is unclear when it closed.

The London theatres, including the Curtain, were closed for much of the period from September 1592 to April 1594 due to the bubonic plague. In 1597, people wrote to the local magistrates' court demanding that no plays take place at the Curtain or the Theatre that year. The Curtain was named in John Stow's Survey of London in 1598, but was not listed in the 1603 edition. In 1600, the Privy Council tried unsuccessfully to shut down the Curtain theatre, and in 1603, the Curtain became the playhouse of Queen Anne's Men (formerly known as Worcester's Men, and formerly at the Rose Theatre, where they'd played Heywood's A Woman Kill'd With Kindness in February of that year).

The Curtain was in use until at least 1624, after which its ultimate fate is obscure as there is no record of it after 1627. The reasons for its closure are not known.

8. The location of The Curtain will now be site to an apartment complex, Shakespeare museum and park.

In 2013, plans were submitted to develop the site with a 40-story tower of 400 apartments plus Shakespeare museum, 250-seat outdoor auditorium and park, with the archaeological remains visible in a glass enclosure. Completion of the project is expected in 2019. Therese Bak, from architect firm Pringle Brandon Drew, said she was delighted by the museum's discovery and wants the new development on the site of the Curtain to house a performance and exhibition space. Artist's impression above.