The Stage

Exclusive: Shakespeare’s first theatre to get new lease of life above graveyard

Published Wednesday 4 March 2009 at 16:05 by Matthew Hemley

Plans are underway to build a 400-seat, state of the art theatre on a graveyard just metres from the site of Shakespeare’s original playhouse in London.

The £5 million venue will be built on land attached to St Leonard’s church in Shoreditch, east London, close to what is believed to be the site of The Theatre - London’s first purpose-built theatre. It is scheduled to open in 2012 and will become a permanent home to Big Space Theatre Productions, which has developed proposals for the location and which uses St Leonard’s as its base.

Company co-founder John White said the idea for building on the disused graveyard next to the church came after Big Space, best known for its site specific performances, appeared in St Leonard’s two years ago and discovered more about the church’s history.

Elizabethan actor and theatre impresario James Burbage, who built The Theatre - where some of Shakespeare’s early plays premiered - is buried in the crypt of the church. His son Richard, who took many leading roles in Shakespeare’s plays, is also buried there.

“I did not know about it until we did this show there and became aware of the rich history associated with it,” said White. “It sparked my imagination and I got into conversation with the church’s incumbent vicar Paul Turp and we set out on this mad idea to build this theatre in keeping with the area and tradition of the church.”

White said the Museum of London had carried out an archaeological study on the disused graveyard - which contains more than 100,000 bodies - to see if building could take place there. A further feasibility test is about to begin on the site and Big Space has started negotiations with investors about raising money to build the theatre and with English Heritage about constructing a new venue near the church, which is a Grade I-listed building.

“Because the church is listed, anything built there must be in keeping with that,” White added. “The easiest thing would be to stick a concrete cow shed there for a few thousand quid, but that can’t be done. We need something that is going to be constructed to the highest possible standard, that will be modern and look fantastic, but stay in keeping with the area.”

White said the theatre would be a state of the art venue, a theatrical centre of excellence and a “focal point for the community”. He said it would involve a lot of “steel and glass” and would take its name from Burbage’s The Theatre, the suspected remains of which were discovered last year just moments from the church.

“Although not the actual site of The Theatre, we feel where we are proposing to build is its spiritual home, because of the connection the church has with the Burbages,” said White.

“They will literally be feet away from where we are performing.”