Cockpit Theatre

The Cockpit was a theatre in London, operating from 1616 to around 1665. It was the first theatre to be located near Drury Lane. After damage in 1617, it was named The Phoenix.

The original building was an actual cockpit; that is, a staging area for cockfights. Most likely a round building with a peaked roof, about 40 feet (12 m) in diameter, it was built in 1609 under the supervision of John Best, "cockmaster" to Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales, King James I's eldest son and heir.

In August 1616, Christopher Beeston acquired the lease to the building and converted it to a theatre. Like earlier theatres, such as The Theatre in Shoreditch and The Globe in Southwark, the location was just outside the jurisdiction of the City of London. Beeston expanded the original small building; the construction work prompted complaints by neighbors, which left traces in the legal records of the time. The resulting theatre was, by one estimate, 52 feet (16 m) by 37 feet (11 m), "noticeably smaller than the Blackfriars."

In 1617, the building suffered damage during rioting; Beeston renovated the theatre and renamed it the Phoenix. The old name continued in popular use as well.

The architect commissioned for the renovation is not known for a certainty, but circumstantial evidence points to Inigo Jones. Two sheets drawn by Jones and showing the interior and exterior design of some theatre have survived; John Orrell makes the case that the theatre is the Cockpit, while allowing that he cannot produce conclusive evidence to that end. (In 1629, Inigo Jones would design another "Cockpit" theatre, a private one within Whitehall called the Cockpit-in-Court or Royal Cockpit.)

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