The arch was discovered during archaeological research and is believed to date from the time when Shakespeare and his company performed there.
In it oldest working theater in the UK An extraordinary 600-year-old door has been discovered that could lead to the legendary English playwright’s dressing room William Shakespeare.
The arch was discovered in St. George’s Guildhall in King’s Lynn (Norfolk) during a few archaeological investigations motivated by curiosity about a “strange shape” on a wall.
By removing two bulletin boards, it was uncovered an 18th century wall. When the bricks were removed from this wall, an even older arch was revealed.
Tim FitzHigham, creative director of St George’s Guildhall, called the discovery behind the plasterboard “mind-blowing”. “We have a door that would undoubtedly have been here in the years when we believe Shakespeare acted here and, in all probability, it was the door to a room where the actors changed and they kept the props,” FitzHigham told ‘The Guardian’.
St. George’s Guildhall, which hosted its first recorded performances in 1445, before Shakespeare’s birth, played a vital role in the theater scene of the time. It was a popular place for traveling troupes, such as Queen Elizabeth’s Men, a troupe created by royal order in 1583, which performed there ten times at the end of the 16th century.
Recent research by Professor Matthew Woodcock of the University of East Anglia has corroborated the local belief that Shakespeare performed at the Guildhall with the Earl of Pembroke’s Men in 1593, during the closure of London theaters due to the fish.
Today, the Grade I listed Guildhall, the largest intact medieval theater of englandit is the only theater in England in which he is known to have performed Shakespeare.
Additional sources • Guardian
