Shakespeare’s Globe on the South Bank of the River Thames in London is famously a reconstruction of the Globe Theatre which stood in Shakespeare’s day over 400 years ago. Now plans are underway to build a brand new theatre just yards away from the site of Shakespeare’s original playhouse in east London.

The theatre, which will cost £5million, will be built on the graveyard of St Leonard’s church in Shoreditch and will seat 400 people. It is believed to be the site of ‘The Theatre’ which was London’s first purpose-built playhouse.

It is hoped the new theatre will be ready to open in 2012 and it will become a base for Big Space Theatre who are currently housed at St Leonard’s church.

There is already plenty of Shakespearean history in the area. James Burbage, the impresario who built the original theatre, and his son Richard Burbage, the great Shakespearean actor are both buried in St Leonard’s Crypt.

There is still a long way to go though. The church is a grade I listed building so the designs for the theatre will have to complement that. The graveyard contains more than 100,000 bodies and feasibility tests will have to be carried out. If that all works out, there will still be the little matter of the £5million to be raised.

It may be a little while before anyone goes to a top London show in Shoreditch.

This entry was posted on Monday, March 16th, 2009 at 6:12 pm and is filed under Theatre News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.