ABSTRACT
A visit to a private theatre in the 1620s or 1630s was a social event. The audience included as many females as males, and though there were probably a disproportionate number of better-off people, plenty of ordinary citizens also attended. The crowds coming to Blackfriars of an afternoon were large enough to annoy the local residents. Many in the audience probably knew one another, and in the comparative darkness there was plenty of scope for sexual naughtiness, as well as for laughing and quarrelling. Lord Thurles tried to stab Captain Charles Essex in Blackfriars in 1632. Other quarrels were known to end in duels.
