Red Bull Theatre

The conversion was undertaken by Aaron Holland, owner of the inn from 1602, on land he (along with an actor named Martin Slatier or Slater) had leased from Anne Bedingfeild, the inheritrix of a wealthy local brewer.The Red Bull was most likely similar to the other outdoor theatres against which it competed, with an uncurtained thrust-forward stage backed by a tiring house and balcony, surrounded by standing room, and overlooked by galleries on three walls.[5] With the abatement of the plague epidemic in 1604, entrepreneur Aaron Holland (in the service of Earl of Devonshire) secured a lease on the Red Bull inn for conversion to a theatre.At the end of that year he agreed with the actor Martin Slatier to form a new company of players, and secured the essential aristocratic patronage from Ulrik, Duke of Holstein, younger brother to Queen Anne.In the decline of the Jacobean period, this company produced plays including Dekker and Massinger's The Virgin Martyr, Thomas May's The Heir, and Gervase Markham and William Sampson's Herod and Antipater.But the new company boasted a popular comedian, Andrew Cane, and it was able to survive the Privy Council's anger over the slanderous play The Whore New Vamped, which mocked an alderman by name and complained of recently levied taxes.[11] In September 1655, the Red Bull was raided again as part of the same sterner attitude that led Cromwell's soldiers to deface the Fortune and Blackfriars, and actors were arrested for performing there in 1659.Its new management returned to the business of staging crowd-pleasing drama; on 23 March 1661 Samuel Pepys recorded seeing a revival of William Rowley's All's Lost by Lust there, but he notes that the work was "poorly done, with…much disorder".
Plan of London in the late 16th and early 17th centuries, showing the locations of playhouses: the Red Bull lies to the north-west of the City
ClerkenwellLondonParliamentRestorationGreat Fire of LondonSt John StreetFortune TheatreSmithfieldAnne BedingfeildGlobe TheatreLeslie HotsonG. E. Bentleytiring houseplagueEarl of DevonshireUlrik, Duke of HolsteinQueen AnnePhilip HensloweQueen Anne's MenChristopher BeestonThomas HeywoodJohn WebsterThe White DevilThomas DekkerThe City GallantChristopher MarloweEdward IIimpresarioCockpit TheatreShrove TuesdayPrince Charles's MenAnne'sMassinger'sThomas MayGervase MarkhamWilliam SampsonCharlesHenry HerbertJohn HemingesBlackfriars TheatreCharles IIPrivy Council'sslanderousaldermanclosed for playsCommonwealthFletcher'sdrollsRobert CoxWilliam DavenantGeorge FletcherFrancis KirkmanfootlightsMichael MohunGeorge JollySamuel PepysWilliam RowleyAll's Lost by LustMedieval & Renaissance Drama in EnglandLatham, RobertGriffith, EvaHuntington Library QuarterlyAdams, J. Q.Internet ArchiveProject GutenbergBentley, G. E.Kirkman, Francis