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Talk: The Dream Factory – Chelsea History Festival
September 26, 2025 @ 5:00 PM - 6:00 PM
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Acclaimed author Daniel Swift tells the remarkable story of Shakespeare’s first theatre – the playhouse that came before the Globe.
About the event
In 1576, in a muddy field in Shoreditch, James Burbage erected London’s first purpose-built commercial playhouse. A place of high culture and quick profit, run by cunning dreamers, the theatre for the first time offered London’s players the chance to control what they staged.
At a time when playgoing was held to be close to a sin, this entertainment factory was a flashpoint for controversy, but it would also become Shakespeare’s first theatre, where he learned to ply his trade before his company moved to the Globe.
Through the life of this little-known playhouse, Daniel Swift tells the story of how Shakespeare became Shakespeare, and the Elizabethan stage began to flourish.
