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The Rose

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Additional Information from MoEML

Built in 1587 by theatre financier Philip Henslowe, the Rose was Bankside’s first open-air amphitheatre playhouse (Egan). Its foundation, excavated in 1989, reveals a fourteen-sided structure about 22 metres in diameter, making it smaller than other contemporary playhouses (White 302).
Despite its small size, the Rose was a hub of theatrical activity. Its popularity was partly due to its location; falling outside of the jurisdiction of the City of London, Bankside was a locus for brothels, inns, animal-baiting arenas, public gardens, and fishing pools (White 305). Relatively free of civic interference and surrounded by pleasure-seeking crowds, the Rose did very well, staging works by such playwrights as Shakespeare, Marlowe, Kyd, and Dekker (Egan).
The 1590s were comparatively early days for London playhouses. So-called private halls (the theatrical venue of choice for the privileged classes) were not yet common; hence, playgoers at the Rose would have consisted of a mix of upper and lower classes (Gurr, Playgoing 80). Tradesmen and artisans likely formed the bulk of the demographic, but servants, apprentices, students, gentlefolk, and citizens (and citizens’ wives) were also in attendance (70–78). The size and variety of the crowd, plus the theatre’s extra-jurisdictional real estate, also guaranteed the presence of cutpurses, prostitutes, vagrants, and gangs (149).
Activity at the Rose began to decline in 1600, when Henslowe turned his attention to his newly constructed Fortune Playhouse, located in London’s northern suburbs (Egan). Meanwhile, competition had sprung up in the form of the Globe theatre, which was built a mere fifty yards away from the Rose (Gurr, Condition 274). No longer interested in maintaining the venture, Henslowe had the Rose torn down in 1606 (Egan).
For information about the Rose, a modern map marking the site where the it once stood, and a walking tour that will take you to the site, visit the Shakespearean London Theatres (ShaLT) article on the Rose.

References

Cite this page

MLA citation

Mead-Willis, Sarah. The Rose. The Map of Early Modern London, edited by Janelle Jenstad, U of Victoria, 20 Jun. 2018, mapoflondon.uvic.ca/ROSE6.htm.

Chicago citation

Mead-Willis, Sarah. The Rose. The Map of Early Modern London. Ed. Janelle Jenstad. Victoria: University of Victoria. Accessed June 20, 2018. http://mapoflondon.uvic.ca/ROSE6.htm.

APA citation

Mead-Willis, S. 2018. The Rose. In J. Jenstad (Ed), The Map of Early Modern London. Victoria: University of Victoria. Retrieved from http://mapoflondon.uvic.ca/ROSE6.htm.

RIS file (for RefMan, EndNote etc.)

Provider: University of Victoria
Database: The Map of Early Modern London
Content: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

TY  - ELEC
A1  - Mead-Willis, Sarah
ED  - Jenstad, Janelle
T1  - The Rose
T2  - The Map of Early Modern London
PY  - 2018
DA  - 2018/06/20
CY  - Victoria
PB  - University of Victoria
LA  - English
UR  - http://mapoflondon.uvic.ca/ROSE6.htm
UR  - http://mapoflondon.uvic.ca/xml/standalone/ROSE6.xml
ER  -

RefWorks

RT Web Page
SR Electronic(1)
A1 Mead-Willis, Sarah
A6 Jenstad, Janelle
T1 The Rose
T2 The Map of Early Modern London
WP 2018
FD 2018/06/20
RD 2018/06/20
PP Victoria
PB University of Victoria
LA English
OL English
LK http://mapoflondon.uvic.ca/ROSE6.htm

TEI citation

<bibl type="mla"><author><name ref="#MEAD1"><surname>Mead-Willis</surname>, <forename>Sarah</forename></name></author>. <title level="a">The Rose</title>. <title level="m">The Map of Early Modern London</title>, edited by <editor><name ref="#JENS1"><forename>Janelle</forename> <surname>Jenstad</surname></name></editor>, <publisher>U of Victoria</publisher>, <date when="2018-06-20">20 Jun. 2018</date>, <ref target="http://mapoflondon.uvic.ca/ROSE6.htm">mapoflondon.uvic.ca/ROSE6.htm</ref>.</bibl>

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