[See SEGMENTS below] Thomas Dabbs speaks with Heather Knight about theatre during the Shakespearean period. In this discussion, Heather Knight discusses recent archeological finds at the Boar's Head, Whitechapel. This conversation also covers findings that concern The Curtain Theatre, the venue for Shakespeare's 'Romeo and Juliet'. The Curtain was once thought to be a round shape, but digs and discoveries at this site have proven that it was a much larger theatre and also rectangular. This discovery has changed the way that theatre historians look at Shakespearean theatre and also the theatre of the times. Heather Knight is also an expert on the archeology of a theatre simply call, The Theatre, which was, according to historical records, one of the earliest large commercial playhouses in London.
LINKS:
The Curtain Theatre Site: https://www.mola.org.uk/blog/remains-shakespeare’s-curtain-theatre-discovered-shoreditch
Museum of London Archeology: https://www.mola.org.uk
SEGMENTS:
0:00:00 - Intro
0:01:37 - Roehampton Conference: Before Shakespeare
0:02:45 - MOLA, Heather's role in theatre archeology
0:03:35 - The Boar's Head playhouse
0:09:45 - Received narrative and global access to sites and records
0:14:05 - The Curtain
0:22:26 - Playhouses in Spain and on the continent
0:27:00 - The Curtain (again) and things lost, depositional signatures
0:41:15 - Positions and dates of theaters, space and the City of London
0:40:40 - The commercial theatre: economics, and expansion
0:49:05 - Future work at MOLA, documentation, digital public access
0:53:45 - Cross disciplinary collaboration
0:55:45 - The plague and theatres, then and now, and more on the future
0:57:14 - The future of the past: the Boar's Head, the Curtain, and The Theatre
1:01:08 - Closing comments: Collaborations then and now, money pots, selling goods
