illicit pleasures such as inns, brothels, bear-baiting and cock pits, much of which developed from the late 16th century. Borough High Street was lined with taverns and Southwark was an ideal place to build theatres outside of the interference of the City.

The Rose, built by Philip Henslowe and in operation from 1587 until 1606, was the first playhouse to be built at Bankside, its octagonal shape inspired by the Theatre. It was the home of the Lord Admiral’s Men, of which Henslowe’s son-in-law Edward Alleyn, one of the most successful actors of his time, was the lead man. Alleyn had first found fame playing the title role in Christopher Marlowe’s Tamburlaine the Great (c.1588), Doctor Faustus (c.1592) and Barbas in The Jew of Malta (c.1589) and became thegreat rival of Richard Burbage. Shakespeare’s Titus Adronicus and Henry VI were first performed at the Rose, as were most of Christopher Marlowe’s plays.

The Rose was followed at Bankside by Francis Langley’s Swan theatre in 1595 but that was demolished in 1606, by which time Henslowe and the Admiral’s men had already moved north of the City to Cripplegate. The Swan was described by Johannes de Witt, a Dutch visitor to London, as being built of flint stones supported by wooden pillars and seating three thousand people.

James Burbage died in February 1597 and was buried at St. Leonard’s, Shoreditch. His sons, the actor Richard and theatre manager Cuthbert, inherited his share of the company. The Theatre was well-established and flourishing by then, so it was time to move