ABSTRACT
In August 1616, Christopher Beeston, manager of Queen Anne’s Men at the Red Bull, acquired the lease of the Royal Cockpit in Drury Lane which was still administered by John Best, cockmaster to the now-deceased Henry, Prince of Wales. He paid £45 per year for the Cockpit ‘and the sheds thereunto adjoining’, intending to convert the old building, fashionably situated as it was near the royal residences of Whitehall in the west end of the growing city, into a ‘private’ theatre. The members of nearby Lincoln’s Inn, when they heard of Beeston’s plans, objected vociferously; but they were overruled, and when it was discovered that he was erecting not so much a small extension to the original building, more a new building altogether, he also ran into trouble. But he continued, and the new Cockpit opened early in 1617. Then on 4 March there was more trouble. This time a large and rowdy group of apprentices ran amok, causing mayhem from Finsbury to Lincoln’s Inn Fields, including attacking the new theatre. The actors defended the premises with guns, and even killed three of the hooligans, but still they
broke in, wounded divers of the players, broke open their trunks and what apparel, books and other things they found, they burned and cut in pieces; and not content herewith, got on the top of the house and untiled it. 1
Whatever mayhem they caused elsewhere, there is evidence that those who assaulted the Cockpit did not do so by chance but because where they had been able to see the plays and players for one penny at the Red Bull, they would now have to pay up to sixpence for the privilege. But Beeston was not to be thwarted. He set to and repaired the damage, renamed it ‘The Phoenix’ and re-opened for business in June. But the ruffians who had objected in 1617 planned a second attack, this time on both the Red Bull and the Cockpit-Phoenix. Unfortunately for them, the Privy Council got wind of their plan, and were able to head it off. But the battles show vividly how the drama was being removed from the possession of everybody and becoming the property of a section of the population.