Meanwhile, the regular companies of
players to whom this harsh Act did not apply, were not left
unmolested. The Court might encourage them, but the City would have
none of them. They had long been accustomed to perform in the yards of
the City inns, but an order of the Common Council, dated December,
1575, expelled the players from the City. Thereupon public playhouses
were erected outside the "liberties" or boundaries of the City. The
first was probably the theatre in Shoreditch; the second, opened in
its immediate neighbourhood, was known as the Curtain; the third,
built by John Burbadge and other of the Earl of Leicester's company of
players, was the famous Blackfriars Theatre. These were all erected
about 1576, and other playhouses were opened soon afterwards. Probably
to avoid the penalties of the Act of Elizabeth, all strolling and
unattached players made haste to join regular companies, or to shelter
themselves under noble patronage. And now the Church raised its voice,
and a controversy which still possesses some vitality touching the
morality or immorality of playhouses, plays and players, was fairly
and formally entered upon.
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