The BBC reports that, last summer in the Shoreditch area of London, archaeologists unearthed the remains of the great Bard’s first theatre. It’s no improbable fiction according to Tara Nixon of the Museum of London. She said that the curved wall her team uncovered was original to the playhouse, believed to be polygonal in shape. Archeologists fear that the stage is buried beneath a nearby housing complex.
Tower Theatre Company, owner of the excavated site, plans to restore the found structure and build around it a 21st-century equivalent of the original playhouse, said representative Penny Tuerk. Like the former setting, the new theatre, slated to open in 2012, will be a “no frills, hard-working place of entertainment,” she said. “Imagine actors in the future crossing the theatre and perhaps paying homage to Shakespeare as they go on stage for luck.”
In related news, Professor Stanley Wells, chairman of The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, unveiled a recently identified portrait of the playwright. The picture, owned by art restorer Alec Cobbe, was painted in 1610, six years before the dramatist’s death. According to the BBC article, many representations previously thought authentic have been discredited in recent years. The portrait will be displayed to the public in Stratford-upon-Avon on April 23, Shakespeare’s birthday.