The Swan (theatre)

Last updated

The exterior of the Swan Theatre: a redrawing of a detail from a panorama of London by Claes Van Visscher Swan exterior.jpg
The exterior of the Swan Theatre: a redrawing of a detail from a panorama of London by Claes Van Visscher
A 1595 sketch of a performance in progress on the thrust stage of the Swan The Swan cropped.png
A 1595 sketch of a performance in progress on the thrust stage of the Swan
The Swan is labelled in the bottom centre of this London street map. Enlarge London theatres C16--C17, after Redwood.png
The Swan is labelled in the bottom centre of this London street map. Enlarge
The Manor of Paris Gardens, Bankside, showing the location of The Swan. Enlarge The Manor of Paris Gardens and The Swan.png
The Manor of Paris Gardens, Bankside, showing the location of The Swan. Enlarge

The Swan was a theatre in Southwark, London, England, built in 1595 on top of a previously standing structure, [1] during the first half of William Shakespeare's career. [2] It was the fifth in the series of large public playhouses of London, after James Burbage's The Theatre (1576) and Curtain (1577), the Newington Butts Theatre (between 1575 and 1577) and Philip Henslowe's Rose (1587–88).

The Swan Theatre was located in the manor of Paris Gardens, on the west end of the Bankside district of Southwark, across the Thames River from the City of London. It was at the northeast corner of the Paris Garden estate nearest to London Bridge that Francis Langley had purchased in May 1589 at a distance of four hundred and twenty-six feet from the river's edge. Playgoers could arrive also by water landing at the Paris Garden Stairs or the Falcon Stairs, both short walking distances from the theatre. [3] The structure originally belonged to the Monastery of Bermondsey. After the Dissolution of the Monasteries, it became royal property and passed through several hands before being sold to Langley for £850. [1] The Mayor of London opposed Langley's permit to open a theatre, but his protests held no ground as the property had formerly belonged to the crown and the Mayor had no jurisdiction.

Langley had the theatre built almost certainly in 1595–96. When it was new, the Swan was the most visually impressive of the existing London theatres. Johannes De Witt, a Dutchman who visited London around 1596, left a description of the Swan in a manuscript titled Observationes Londiniensis, now lost. Translated from the Latin, his description identifies the Swan as the "finest and biggest of the London amphitheatres", with a capacity for 3000 spectators. From 1993-1996 the Globe theatre was reconstructed according to de Witt's sketches. From this led to the previous believe concerning the theatre's capacity to be reanalysed and it was found that it only had seating for 1000 spectators and additional space for 500 groundlings in the pit. [4] It was built of flint concrete, and its wooden supporting columns were so cleverly painted that "they would deceive the most acute observer into thinking that they were marble", giving the Swan a "Roman" appearance. (De Witt also drew a sketch of the theatre. The original is lost, but a copy by Arendt van Buchell survives, and is the only sketch of an Elizabethan playhouse known to exist. If the Lord Chamberlain's Men acted at the Swan in the summer of 1596—which is possible, though far from certain—( they toured in the provinces in July and August 1596 under the name of Lord Hunsdon's Players) they would be the actors shown in the Swan sketch.) When Henslowe built the new Hope Theatre in 1613, he had his carpenter copy the Swan, rather than his own original theatre, the Rose, which must have appeared dated and out of style in comparison. [5]

In 1597, the Swan housed the acting company Pembroke's Men, with Actors Richard Jones, Thomas Downtown, and William Bird. (They later approached Henslowe to rejoin the Admiral's Men at The Rose). Edward Alleyn [6] They joined the Pembroke troupe after leaving their positions in Lord Admiral's Men at the rival playhouse The Rose. [7] In 1597 Pembroke's Men staged the infamous play The Isle of Dogs , by Thomas Nashe and Ben Jonson, the content of which gave offence, most likely for its "satirical" [1] nature on the attack of some people high in authority. Jonson was imprisoned, along with Gabriel Spenser, an actor in the play, and Robert Shaa. Langley, already in trouble with the Privy Council over matters unrelated to theatre, may have exacerbated his danger by allowing his company to stage the play after a royal order that all playing stop and all theatres be demolished. This order of the Privy Council called for all London Theatres to be "plucked down", but may have arisen because of Langley and the 'seditious, lewd play'. The other companies were under inhibition to stop playing. The Lord Chamberlain's Men went on tour to six areas of the south east and south west, and the Admiral's Men did not perform again at The Rose until the inhibition was lifted at the end of October. Johnson was released from jail on October 3. Nashe however went on the run. All but the Swan Theatre were granted licences to perform. The Swan continued to operate without a licence until 19 February 1598, when the two licensed companies called attention to them. Following the scandal, the Swan only held sporadic performances. [1] Another scandal rocked the Swan in 1602, when Richard Vennar advertised a new play, England's Joy, to be performed at the Swan on 6 November. [7] Vennar claimed the play was a fantastical story in honour of Queen Elizabeth, and seats sold out quickly. However, the play was never performed. The townspeople were enraged and vandalised the theatre, and the theatre never seemed to recover its former popularity.

Because both court and city were interested in limiting the number of acting troupes in London, and because there was, consequently, a glut of large open-roof venues in the city, the Swan was only intermittently home to drama. Along with The Isle of Dogs, the most famous play to premiere there was Thomas Middleton's A Chaste Maid in Cheapside , performed by the newly merged Lady Elizabeth's Men in 1613. The theatre offered other popular entertainments, such as swashbuckling competitions and bear-baiting.

For the next eight years, the building was used occasionally for special entertainment. After 1615 the Swan was deserted for five years, but used again in 1621 by some actors who are unknown. They did not stay for long. [1]

The building grew decrepit over the next two decades. In Nicholas Goodman's 1632 pamphlet Holland's Leaguer , the theatre is described as "now fallen into decay, and, like a dying swan, hangs her head and sings her own dirge." [8] Historical sources do not mention the Swan after that date.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">English Renaissance theatre</span> Theatre of England between 1562 and 1642

The English Renaissance theatre or Elizabethan theatre was the theatre of England from 1558 to 1642. Its most prominent playwrights were William Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe and Ben Jonson.

This article presents lists of the literary events and publications in 1600.

This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1597.

Philip Henslowe was an Elizabethan theatrical entrepreneur and impresario. Henslowe's modern reputation rests on the survival of his diary, a primary source for information about the theatrical world of Renaissance London.

The Rose was an Elizabethan theatre. It was the fourth of the public theatres to be built, after The Theatre (1576), the Curtain (1577), and the theatre at Newington Butts – and the first of several playhouses to be situated in Bankside, Southwark, in a liberty outside the jurisdiction of the City of London's civic authorities. Its remains were excavated by archaeologists in 1989 and are listed by Historic England as a Scheduled Monument.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Theatre</span> An Elizabethan playhouse located in Shoreditch, London (1576–1598)

The Theatre was an Elizabethan playhouse in Shoreditch, just outside the City of London. Built in 1576, after the Red Lion, it was the first permanent theatre built exclusively for the showing of theatrical productions in England, and its first successful one. Actor-manager James Burbage built it near the family home in Holywell Street. The Theatre's history includes a number of important acting troupes including the Lord Chamberlain's Men, which employed Shakespeare as actor and playwright. After a dispute with the landlord, the theatre was dismantled and the timbers used in the construction of the Globe Theatre on Bankside.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edward Alleyn</span> 16th/17th-century actor and founder of schools

Edward "Ned" Alleyn was an English actor who was a major figure of the Elizabethan theatre and founder of the College of God's Gift in Dulwich.

The Lord Chamberlain's Men was a company of actors, or a "playing company", for which William Shakespeare wrote during most of his career. Richard Burbage played most of the lead roles, including Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, and Macbeth. Formed at the end of a period of flux in the theatrical world of London, it had become, by 1603, one of the two leading companies of the city and was subsequently patronized by James I.

In Renaissance-era London, playing company was the usual term for a company of actors. These companies were organised around a group of ten or so shareholders, who performed in the plays but were also responsible for management. The sharers employed "hired men" – that is, the minor actors and the workers behind the scenes. The major companies were based at specific theatres in London; the most successful of them, William Shakespeare's company the King's Men, had the open-air Globe Theatre for summer seasons and the enclosed Blackfriars Theatre in the winters. The Admiral's Men occupied the Rose Theatre in the 1590s, and the Fortune Theatre in the early 17th century.

The Isle of Dogs is a play by Thomas Nashe and Ben Jonson which was performed in 1597. It was immediately suppressed, and no copy of it is known to exist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Lowin</span> 16th/17th-century English actor and theatre sharer

John Lowin was an English actor.

The Admiral's Men was a playing company or troupe of actors in the Elizabethan and Stuart eras. It is generally considered the second most important acting troupe of English Renaissance theatre.

The Earl of Pembroke's Men was an Elizabethan era playing company, or troupe of actors, in English Renaissance theatre. They functioned under the patronage of Henry Herbert, 2nd Earl of Pembroke. Early and equivocal mentions of a Pembroke's company reach as far back as 1575; but the company is known for certain to have been in existence in 1592. In that year, a share in the company was valued at £80.

The Lady Elizabeth's Men, or Princess Elizabeth's Men, was a company of actors in Jacobean London, formed under the patronage of King James I's daughter Princess Elizabeth. From 1618 on, the company was called The Queen of Bohemia's Men, after Elizabeth and her husband the Elector Palatine had their brief and disastrous flirtation with the crown of Bohemia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hope Theatre</span> Theatre in Elizabethan London

The Hope Theatre was one of the theatres built in and around London for the presentation of plays in English Renaissance theatre, comparable to the Globe, the Curtain, the Swan, and other famous theatres of the era.

Francis Langley (1548–1602) was a theatre builder and theatrical producer in Elizabethan era London. After James Burbage and Philip Henslowe, Langley was the third significant entrepreneurial figure active at the height of the development of English Renaissance theatre.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fortune Playhouse</span> Theatre in Elizabethan London

The Fortune Playhouse was an historic theatre in London. It was located between Whitecross Street and the modern Golden Lane, just outside the City of London. It was founded about 1600, and suppressed by the Puritan Parliament in 1642.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Inn-yard theatre</span>

In the historical era of English Renaissance drama, an Inn-yard theatre or Inn-theatre was a common inn with an inner courtyard with balconies that provided a venue for the presentation of stage plays.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gabriel Spenser</span> 16th-century English actor

Gabriel Spenser, also spelt Spencer, was an Elizabethan actor. He is best known for episodes of violence culminating in his death in a duel at the hands of the playwright Ben Jonson.

<i>A Knack to Know a Knave</i>

A Knack to Know a Knave is a 1592 play closely associated with the principal performers Edward Alleyn and William Kempe. The play is a comic morality tale designed to highlight the talents of the celebrated clown Kempe, and is known from one text, itself arguably a memorial reconstruction. The author is unknown, though the involvement of Robert Greene has been suggested, as well as George Peele and Thomas Nashe. Recent scholarship has argued for a Shakespearean connection. On the basis of traditional literary-critical analysis and digital textual methods, Darren Freebury-Jones has proposed that the case for Robert Wilson's authorship of A Knack to Know a Knave is compelling. The play gives an insight into the nature of Elizabethan theatre during Shakespeare's time and the relationship between playscript and extemporised comedy.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Adams, Joseph Q. Shakespearean Playhouses: A History of English Theaters from the Beginnings to the Restoration. Cornell University, 1917; pp. 160–180.
  2. ↑ F. E. Halliday, A Shakespeare Companion 1564–1964, Baltimore, Penguin, 1964; p. 481.
  3. ↑ Trussler, Simon. The Cambridge Illustrated History of British Theatre. New York: Press Syndicate of the U. of Cambridge, 1994; pp. 164.
  4. ↑ Kotte, Andreas (17 July 2013). Theatergeschichte: Eine Einführung (in German) (1 ed.). Stuttgart, Deutschland: utb GmbH. p. 252. doi:10.36198/9783838538716. ISBN   978-3-8385-3871-6.
  5. ↑ E. K. Chambers, The Elizabethan Stage, 4 Volumes, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1923; Vol. 2, pp. 411–14.
  6. ↑ Mateer, David. "Edward Alleyn, Richard Perkins and the Rivalry between the Swan and the Rose Playhouses." Review of English Studies: The Leading Journal of English Literature and the English Language 60 (2009): MLA International Bibliography. Web. 5 March 2010.
  7. 1 2 Thomson, Peter.The Cambridge History of British Theatres. Ed. Jane Milling. Vol. 1. UK: Cambridge University, 2004; pp. 70–92.
  8. ↑ George Pierce, The Development of Shakespeare as a Dramatist, New York, Macmillan, 1907; p. 50 n. 2.

51°30′25″N0°6′11″W / 51.50694°N 0.10306°W / 51.50694; -0.10306

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.