Plays and players in the 1570s and 1580s

The first permanent theatres were built in the outskirts of London not to house permanent theatre companies, but to provide state-of-the-art touring venues. Probably no companies of the 1570s and 1580s thought of themselves as ‘London companies’ – they were touring companies, whose best and most lucrative venues, however, were in London. This was their key market, but it was not an exclusive market.