Forget Stratford-upon-Avon and the Globe. It turns out Hackney provided the first stage for Shakespeare’s masterpieces. Beth Mellor and Clare Dickinson investigate the connections between the borough and the Bard.

A rowdy scene is unfolding in the backstreets of Shoreditch. An unruly crowd has gathered in this seedy part of town, teeming with drunks and prostitutes, to watch the premiere of a new play by a little known Stratford playwright, William Shakespeare.

That was more than 400 years ago, but this simple story about two star-crossed lovers quickly became famous as one of the world’s greatest romances. However, the location of the theatre where it was first performed has remained a mystery until this week.

On Sunday it was confirmed that an old warehouse in Hackney was the site of the theatre where the Bard’s plays were originally performed. Built in 1576 and rediscovered last summer, The Theatre playhouse is almost certain to have staged the premiere of his most famous play, Romeo and Juliet.

Archaeologists from the Museum of London have now uncovered part of the inner wall of the playhouse, which was built by James Burbage just outside the old City of London. Plays were banned inside the city, due to fears about crime and worries that large gatherings of people would aid the spread of the Bubonic Plague.

In 1596 a dispute over the tenancy meant that Burbage had to abandon the theatre, and he took the wooden structure bit by bit and reassembled it on the South Bank as The Globe. Burbage marked each piece of the theatre so that he could reconstruct it exactly as it had stood in Shoreditch.

These days, Shoreditch is a popular haunt for artists and late-night clubbers. But according to Shakespeare biographer John Aubrey, writing in the 17th Century, its character was not much different in the Bard’s day, when it was a magnet for writers and actors as well as being frequented by the down-and-outs of Elizabethan society.

Yet although Shakespeare is one of the most studied figures in British history, we know surprisingly little about his life in London. It is not known why or exactly when he left Stratford-upon-Avon for the capital. One theory is that he was caught poaching deer in Charlcote Park near Stratford, and came to London to avoid prosecution in his home town.

Most experts agree that he arrived in the city in the late 1580s, when he was in his twenties, and it is thought that he lived in the Bishopsgate area of east London.

Last year, an investigation of archive material by the Reverend Paul Turp, vicar of St Leonard’s church in Shoreditch, revealed that the remains of Shakespeare’s local church is also buried in the area. It is believed that Shakespeare worshipped at the church, which was demolished in the eighteenth century. A number of his contemporaries were buried there, including Richard Burbage, the son of the theatre entrepreneur who helped to launch his career.

Until now, a plaque on the corner of Foxton’s estate agents in Curtain Road has been the only memorial to the place where some of Shakespeare’s most famous works had their debut.

The site in New Inn Square has now been purchased by the Tower Theatre Company, which hopes to open a new theatre on the site in 2012.

Jeff Kelly, Chairman of the company, said: “We knew a while ago that there was a strong possibility that this theatre was the Burbage theatre, but its exact location wasn’t pinpointed until last August. We are now 90 per cent certain that this was the external wall of the first public playhouse in London.”

Heather Knight, an archaeologist from the Museum of London, said: “This discovery is really important. Every other site on this road
has had a big basement dug out which has taken out all the archaeology.

“If we were standing here in AD 400 we’d be outside the city in open ground. The medieval city was built inside the roman city walls which is what we now call the City of London.”

The land around the site was mainly farmland in Shakespeare’s day. In 1150 the priory of St John of Holywell was founded. It was dissolved in 1539 and the bricks from the structure formed part of the theatre.

The curved wall, which was unearthed, is thought to have formed part of the inner wall of the theatre.

Ms Knight explained: “The outside wall would have been about 3.8 metres away. The stage was to the south and in this area there was a hard gravel surface, where the groundlings would have stood.

“People standing there would have seen the first performance of Romeo and Juliet.”

The excavation of the site took place over three weeks last summer, when three trenches were dug. This year one of the trenches was enlarged and a variety of archaeological items were uncovered revealing the history of the area.

The Tower Theatre Company is waiting for planning permission from Hackney Council to build the four-storey theatre, and is launching a major fundraising campaign to raise the £3.3m sum still needed to complete the £7m project.

The company wants to make sure the historically important site is preserved for people to see. “The most likely scenario is that we will form a protective chamber around the remains with Perspex on the top. The remains will be in the backstage area of the new theatre so viewing will probably be by appointment only,” Mr Kelly said.

The remarkable site, which was open to invited members of the public this week, has now been closed to visitors until 2012. Then, says Mr Kelly, a new generation will be able to see Shakespeare’s best works in their original setting. “Since Romeo and Juliet was first performed here, I’m pretty sure that will appear before too long.”

Professor Jonathan Bate a Shakespeare expert from  Warwick University is particularly excited by the news.

“This is a fantastic find because it reminds us that the English theatre had its origins in the East End, not on the South Bank. It must have been particularly exciting when Henry IV was premiered at this theatre, because the best scenes are set in Eastcheap – just a stone’s throw from the theatre building.”

Image taken from Mshades on Flickr.