The Theatre was the first London playhouse, built in 1576 by the
English actor and entrepreneur James Burbage, father of the
great actor and friend of Shakespeare, Richard Burbage. It was
located in a northern suburb of London (north of London Wall
which bounded the city proper); on the edge of Finsbury Fields,
just past Bishopsgate Street, where Shakespeare called home up
to 1597. There are no images of the Theatre, but written
accounts of the building describe a vast, polygonal, three-story
timber structure, open to the sun and rain. Its exterior was
coated with lime and plaster. It had features similar to those
of the future Globe playhouse and other playhouses of the day,
such as galleries, upper rooms, a tiring house, and trap doors
in the stage floor. Like the Globe, the Theatre had two external
staircases, standing on either side of the building, and leading
up to the galleries. Those people who watched from the main
"yard" surrounded by the comfortable covered galleries, were
forced to stand during th