Category:Blackfriars (2nd)

Burbage Family Ownership

James Burbage bought seven rooms in the Blackfriars property on 4 February 1596 for £600. He immediately remodeled the rooms into a playing venue. However, he was prevented from using it for that purpose by neighbors who petitioned the privy council to require that the property be converted to some other use than that of a "common playhouse" (the petition is undated but appears from a reference in a similar petition in 1618 to have been sent in November 1596). Burbage died a year later in 1597, and his son Richard assumed control of the Blackfriars property. In 1600 Richard Burbage leased the remodeled playing area in Blackfriars to Henry Evans for £40 per year for twenty-one years. and performed at Blackfriars in some combination with the Globe until the playhouses were officially closed in London in September 1642.

Tenancy, Children of the Queen's Revels

Evans brought in a newly configured company, the Children of the Queen's Revels. Fairly soon, the company lost favor with the royal family and consequently the privilege of calling themselves "Queen's." The resulting company, the Children of the Revels, continued to irritate the authorities and came to be called the Children of Blackfriars. Henry Evans turned back the lease to Burbage in March 1608. Soon afterward, the King's players took up the lease.

Tenancy, King's Players

Because of the long period of plague in 1608-9, it is unclear precisely when the King's Men began to play at Blackfriars, but it is certain that they retained the lease on the playhouse until 1642. Their use of the playhouse in addition to the Globe is a controversial subject, arguments for which are based on very little documentary evidence. In short, the issues concern seasonal use, frequency of playing per week, and repertory.

Scholarship

Bentley, Gerald Eades. Shakespeare and the Blackfriars Theatre. Shakespeare Survey 1 (1948): 38-50.
Gurr, Andrew. The Shakespeare Company 1594-1642. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004.
Knutson, Roslyn L. "Two Playhouses, Both Alike in Dignity,” Shakespeare Studies, 30 (2002): 111-18.
—— "What if there wasn't a ‘Blackfriars Repertory’?” in Inside Shakespeare: Essays on the Blackfriars Stage, ed. Paul Menzer (Selinsgrove: Susquehanna University Press, 2006). 54-60.
—— "What was James Burbage Thinking???" in Thunder at a Playhouse: Essays on Shakespeare and the Early Modern Stage. eds. Peter Kanelos and Matt Kozusko. Selinsgrove, PA: Susquehanna University Press, 2010. 116-30.
Smith, Irwin. Shakespeare's Blackfriars Playhouse. New York: New York University Press, 1964.
Wright, James. Historia Histrionica. 1699.