Museum of London archaeologists believe they've
found the site of The Theatre, where some of Shakespeare's first plays (
Romeo and Juliet,
A Midsummer Night's Dream, &c.) are said to have debuted. The Theatre's timbers were used in 1599 to construct the more famous Globe, but the "
original footings or groundwork of the octagonal Shoreditch venue" have now been discovered "- ironically on a site being prepared for the construction of a new theatre."
Current plans call for preservation of the site: "Jeff Kelly, chairman of the Tower Theatre Company, which is building the new theatre on the site, added: 'The discovery that we shall be building a 21st century playhouse where Shakespeare played and where some of Shakespeare's plays must first have been performed is a huge inspiration.'"
