Red Lion (theatre)
| Address |
Whitechapel High Street London Borough of Tower Hamlets |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 51°31′10″N 0°03′40″W / 51.519444°N 0.061111°W |
| Owner | John Brayne |
| Type | Elizabethan playhouse |
| Capacity | standing yard with galleries |
| Construction | |
| Years active | 1567–1568 |
| Architect | William Sylvester and John Reynolds (carpenters) |
The Red Lion was an Elizabethan playhouse located in Whitechapel (part of the modern Borough of Tower Hamlets), just outside the City of London. Built in 1567, by John Brayne, formerly a grocer, this theatre was a short-lived attempt to provide a purpose-built playhouse, the first known in London, for the many Tudor touring theatrical companies.
The Red Lion had been a farm, but a single gallery multi-sided theatre (constructed by John Williams), with a fixed stage 40 feet (12.2 m) by 30 feet (9.1 m), standing 5 feet (1.5 m) above the audience, was built by John Reynolds, in the garden of the farmhouse. The stage was equipped with trapdoors, and an attached 30 feet (9.1 m) turret, or fly tower – for aerial stunts and to advertise its presence. The construction cost £20, and while it appears to have been a commercial success, the Red Lion offered little that the prior tradition of playing in inns had not offered, and it was too far from its audiences to be attractive (at the time, the area was open farmland) for visiting in the winter. But even this material has only been in the public domain since 1983, when historian Janet S. Loengard discovered neglected legal documents revealing this information (it was an enclosed, walled construction – from the records of the Court of King’s Bench). From such legal documentation, we know that the playhouse was up and running before July 1567, but anything else is still an unfortunate mystery.
The only play known to have been presented here was The Story of Samson, after some corrections had been made to the structure and there is little documentary evidence that the theatre survived beyond the summer season of 1567, although the lawsuit, from the little we know of it, dragged on until 1578.
On 15 July 1567, John Brayne made the following complaint about the standard of the work of the carpenter who built the Red Lion theatre:
‘Court holden the 15th day of July 1567 ... by master William Ruddock, Master Richard More, Henry Whreste, and Richard Smarte, wardens, and Master Bradshaw. Be it remembered that ... where certain variance, discord, and debate was between William Sylvester, carpenter, on the one party and John Brayne, grocer, on the other party, it is agreed, concluded, and fully determined by the said parties, by the assent and consent of them both with the advice of the master and wardens above said, that William Buttermore, John Lyffe, William Snelling, and Richard Kyrby, carpenters, shall with expedition go and peruse such defaults as are and by them shall be found of, in, and about such scaffolds as he the said William hath made at the house called the Red Lion in the parish of Stepney, and the said William Sylvester shall repair and amend the same with their advice substantially as they shall think good. And that the said John Brayne on Saturday next ensuing the date above written shall pay to the said William Sylvester the sum of £8 10s lawful money of England, and that after the play which is called The Story of Samson be once played at the place aforesaid the said John shall deliver to the said William such bonds as are now in his custody for the performance of the bargain. In witness whereof both parties hereunto hath set their hands.’
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