John Street, Clerkenwell--establishments for the lower class,
"mostly frequented by citizens and the meaner sort of people." Earlier
Elizabethan theatres, the Swan, the Rose, and the Hope, seem to have
closed their career some time in the reign of James I.
The introduction of actresses upon the English stage has usually been
credited to Sir William Davenant, whose theatre, however, did not open
until more than six months after the performance of "Othello," with an
actress in the part of Desdemona, at Killigrew's establishment in Vere
Street. "Went to Sir William Davenant's opera," records Pepys, on July
2nd, 1661, "this being the fourth day it had begun, and the first that
I have seen it." Although regular tragedies and comedies were acted
there, Pepys constantly speaks of Davenant's theatre as the _opera_,
the manager having produced various musical pieces before the
Restoration. Of the memorable performance of "Othello" in Vere Street,
on December 10th, 1660, Pepys makes no mention. He duly chronicles,
however, a visit to Killigrew's theatre on the following 3rd January,
when he saw the comedy of "The Beggar's Bush" performed; "it being
very well done, and was the first time that ever I saw women come upon
the stage.
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