Category:Newington

The Enterprise

The playhouse at Newington, often referred to by its street location of Newington Butts, was a mile south of London. It was built by 1577. It is most familiar to students of early modern English drama for the run of 10 days from 3-13 June 1594 by the Admiral's men and the Chamberlain's men, which Philip Henslowe recorded in his diary. But when it was new, it was apparently a busy venue. William Ingram explores the early years of the Newington playhouse, and he determines that Jerome Savage, lead player with the earl of Warwick's men in 1575, was probably responsible for the building of the playhouse on property owned by Richard Hickes. That company, with Savage as well as John and Lawrence Dutton as members, performed at Newington until 1580, at which time the Duttons brought in another company, the earl of Oxford's men, without the services of Savage. It is unclear for how long one or both of the Duttons played at Newington and with what regularity. John Dutton joined the Queen's men late in 1583. Yet playing at Newington did apparently continue, perhaps intermittently, into the 1590s. The company of Strange's men played there but requested the Privy Council in an undated petition to allow their return to the Rose playhouse. The Newington playhouse likely closed in 1594, with new owner Paul Buck given the lease on 6 July by the Dean and Chapter of Canterbury under the condition that he convert the building to some other use and not suffer any further plays at the venue.

Scholarship

NB. This page is a work in progress; rather than attempting to represent a complete list of plays staged at the playhouse in Newington, this page will continually be updated as new entries are created for Newington plays.

Lost Plays