| 1557 |
First record of a play performed
at Boar's Head Inn in Whitechapel.
|
| 1559 |
Licensing of plays enacted.
Creation of the Earl of Worcester's Men;
The Earl of Warwick's Men;
Lord Strange's Men.
|
| 1572 |
The Earl of Leicester's Men
perform at Stratford.
|
| 1574 |
The Earl of Leicester's Men receive a patent.
|
| 1576 |
James Burbage obtains permission to build
"The Theatre" in Shoreditch; receives a
21-year lease.
|
| 1577 |
A rival, "The Curtain", opens in
Finsbury Fields, Shoreditch.
|
| 1583 |
The Queen's Men created from the companies
of Leicester's Men, Oxford's Men, Sussex's Men,
Earl of Derby's Men, and Lord Hunsdon's Men.
|
| c.1585 |
The Second Lord Strange's Men.
|
| 1585 |
The Lord Admiral's Men.
|
| 1587 |
"The Rose" built on Bankside
by Philip Henslowe.
|
| 1592 |
Lord Strange's Men along with some of Lord
Admiral's Men take residence at The Rose.
|
| 1592-3 |
The Earl of Pembroke's Men created.
|
| 1593 |
Sussex' Men perform at The Rose.
|
| 1593-4 |
Theatres closed due to the plague.
|
| 1594 |
Lord Chamberlain's Men created, Shakespeare
as founding member.
Admiral's Men move to The Rose.
Francis Langley applies to build "The Swan"
in Paris Garden.
|
| 1595? |
"The Swan" built.
|
| 1596 |
Plays banned within City limits.
James Burbage purchases and converts
Blackfriars to a theatre.
Unable to get permission to open.
|
| 1597 |
Second Pembroke's Men.
Burbage leases Blackfriars to the Chapel Children.
After James Burbage's death, the
lease on The Theatre expires.
|
| 1598 |
The Theatre dismantled. Timbers
taken to Bankside to build The Globe.
|
| 1599 |
"The Globe" built on Bankside.
|
| 1600 |
"The Fortune" opens.
|
| 1600-5? |
"The Red Bull" built in
Clerkenwell.
|
| 1603 |
Lord Chamberlain's Men become The King's Men.
An amalgam of Oxford's and Worcester's Men
become Queen Anne's Men (Queen's Men).
|
| 1605 |
The Rose closed and demolished.
|
| 1606 |
Queen Anne's Men take residence at the Red Bull.
Michael Drayton and Thomas Woodford convert
the Whitefriars into a private theatre.
|
| 1608 |
Burbage takes back the lease of Blackfriars.
The King's Men play the winters there.
Children of the King's Revels at the Whitefriars.
|
| 1609 |
"The Cockpit" built in Drury Lane
for the purpose of cock-fighting.
Children of the Queen's Revels
in residence at Whitefriars to 1613.
|
| 1613 |
Fire at The Globe.
The Children of the Queen's Revels merge with
The Lady Elizabeth's Men.
|
| 1613-4 |
Henslowe and Jacob Meade build "The Hope"
on the site of the old Bear Garden.
Lady Elizabeth's Men take residence.
Whitefriars taken over by Prince Charles' Men.
|
| 1614 |
The Globe rebuilt, with a tiled roof.
|
| 1616 |
"The Cockpit" converted to a theatre by
Christopher Beeston. Queen's Men in residence.
At Henslowe's death, "The Hope" turns into
a bear-baiting ring.
|
| 1617 |
"The Cockpit" burned down by rioters.
|
| 1618 |
"The Cockpit" rebuilt; renamed "The Phoenix."
|
| 1619 |
Queen Anne's Men disband after her death.
|
| 1619 |
The Fortune burns down. Rebuilt of brick.
|
| 1625 |
The Red Bull renovated.
|
| c.1629 |
Whitefriars replaced by Salisbury Court Theatre.
|
| 1637? |
The Swan demolished.
|
| 1642 |
Parliamentary ordinance to suppress all plays.
"The Closing of the Theatres."
The Cockpit and the Fortune occasionally stage
plays illicitly.
|
| 1644 |
The Globe demolished.
|
| 1648 |
The Puritans order all playhouses demolished,
all actors whipped, and theatregoers fined
five shillings.
|
| 1649 |
The Cockpit raided.
|
| 1660 |
The Restoration. King Charles II
reopens the playhouses.
|
Renaissance English Drama
