Shakespeare's first theatre found

Timbers from the unearthed theatre were used for the original Globe

Archaeologists believe they have unearthed the remains of Shakespeare's first theatre, the BBC has learned.

A team from the Museum of London discovered the foundations of what they believe is the original Globe Theatre in Shoreditch last summer.

Built in 1576, it is thought the Bard acted there and that it also hosted the premiere of Romeo and Juliet.

The site is now owned by the Tower Theatre Company and a new playhouse is due to open there in 2012.

Taryn Nixon, from the Museum of London, said her team had found part of the original curved wall of the playhouse, which was believed to be polygonal in shape.

A metre and a half below street level, it has also uncovered the gravel surface, gently sloping down towards the stage, where the bulk of the audience would have stood.

But the archaeologists fear the stage itself may be buried underneath a housing development.

Ms Nixon told the BBC the theatre was built in what were known as "the suburbs of sin" just outside the city.

"The Lord Mayor actually passed a decree that there shouldn't be any theatrical performances in the city... so just on the edge of the city is actually, classically, where you find all the slightly wilder, slightly more fun activities going on," she said.

Relocated

The theatre was constructed by James Burbage, possibly using bricks from an old priory.

There was a huge appetite for theatre at the time Penny TuerkTower Theatre Company Shakespeare's theatre unearthed

It is thought to have played host to Shakespeare's theatre company, the Chamberlain's Men.

About 25 years after it was built, it was dismantled and moved timber by timber to construct the Globe Theatre on the South Bank of the Thames.

That site now houses the recreated Globe which opened in the 1990s.

Penny Tuerk, from the Tower Theatre Company, said Romeo and Juliet and an early version of Hamlet were thought to have been performed at the excavated site, as were some of Shakespeare's comedies like A Midsummer Night's Dream.

"There was a huge appetite for theatre at the time," she said.

"People were flocking into the theatres and they would have grabbed anything that they could and put it on to please the crowds."

Portrait

The Tower Theatre Company plans to preserve the archaeology in situ as it constructs a new playhouse around it.

Ms Tuerk said that when it opens, London theatre will have "come back to its roots".

"Imagine actors in the future crossing the theatre and perhaps paying homage to Shakespeare as they go on stage for luck," she added.

Elsewhere on Monday, a portrait said to be the only image of Shakespeare painted in his lifetime will be unveiled in London.

There has long been controversy over the accuracy of some representations of the Bard and many have been discredited in recent years.

But Professor Stanley Wells, chairman of The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, says he will produce evidence to show that this portrait, painted in 1610, is a genuine likeness.