THE SPOTLIGHT is being shone on the overlooked theatrical history of Stratford’s Guildhall.
A new exhibition curated by Nottingham University research fellow Dr Will Green details how the upstairs of the Grade I listed building in Church Street was used as an early modern theatre venue.
Experts agree it is the only authentic space remaining in Stratford that hosted theatre during William Shakespeare’s lifetime and may even have been the very venue at which a young Shakespeare first witnessed profession theatre.
But before now, this was told to visitors through a paragraph on a single information board.
Dr Green has curated and installed a full partition display board which replicates how the original performance space would originally have been partitioned off from the rest of the upstairs Guildhall, and produced a new self-guided interactive tablet display, enabling visitors to explore how regional theatre existed alongside the permanent London theatres of Shakespeare’s day, and the experience of being an actor on tour.
The display also explores how performances would have worked within the Guildhall space, given that the building was never actually designed as a theatre.
Dr Green said: “As the town in which he was born and raised, heritage in Stratford has long been dominated by Shakespeare and his works. This is understandable, but it is another way in which opportunities to speak to the public about the wider culture of theatre of which Shakespeare was just one part have ended up being treated like secondary considerations, or overlooked entirely.
“Stratford’s Guildhall is a fascinating space with a rich theatrical history. It was the civic, social, and educational heart of the early modern town, and we know the building’s upstairs council space hosted performances by multiple theatre companies that toured the Midlands during the 16th and 17th centuries, with at least 35 visits to Stratford being recorded. Our new interpretation of the space allows visitors to go beyond Shakespeare, and dive into the town’s rich alternative history of English theatre at a regional level.”
Dr Lindsey Armstrong, general manager at Shakespeare’s Schoolroom and Guildhall, added: “The collaboration with Dr Green and the University of Nottingham has added an exciting new dimension to Shakespeare’s Schoolroom and Guildhall’s story, breathing fresh life into a previously underappreciated chapter of our Guildhall’s rich past. This new interpretation of the upper Guildhall space is hugely significant, establishing our site as the only historic building in the region with a permanent exhibition exploring its unique connection to the wider theatrical world in which Shakespeare lived and worked.”
