All the World’s a Stage
John Greeves visits a theatre where Shakespeare trod the boards
St George’s Guildhall, a Grade I-listed building in King’s Lynn, Norfolk is the largest surviving medieval guildhall in the country and the oldest surviving theatre, which has been hosting performances since 1445. An ongoing renovation has uncovered, beneath several floors, what is believed to be the only surviving stage on which William Shakespeare performed.
The site is in the ownership of the National Trust and is leased by the Borough Council of King’s Lynn & West Norfolk as an arts centre for music, performance, lectures, entertainment and educational endeavours.
In its 600-year history, the guildhall has had a flamboyant and colourful past, undergoing many transformations and uses, yet it can still claim to be the oldest surviving theatre in the United Kingdom. Construction was undertaken by the Guild of St George between 1410 and 1420 on reclaimed land on the bank of the River Great Ouse. Current creative director
Tim Fitz Highman believes much of the funding may have come from founder John Brandon who was regarded as the most perfidious pirate in Europe at the time, but also the king’s favourite sea captain.
The earliest record of a theatrical production was a nativity play in 1445 followed by various events a year later including a St George’s Day procession with guild member children, a dragon and castle on wheels. A performance took place for the next 100 years until the dissolution of the guilds in 1547 when the guildhall became the property of the Lynn Corporation. It then served as the common hall (meaning public) as well as a courthouse, merchant exchange, French school and even a civil war armoury and gunpowder store.
Recent research has supported local legend that Shakespeare himself performed here with the Earl of Pembroke’s Men in 1592-93. Lynn was part of a well-defined East Anglian circuit used by many companies with performances at Norwich, Ipswich, Aldeburgh and Dunwich.
“For anyone who considers Shakespeare wasn’t with the Earl of Pembroke’s Men, we also have the Lord Chamberlain’s Men performing here as well. Whichever company academics consider Shakespeare performed with (views differ), both played here in Lynn in 1592,” Tim says.
We also know the Earl of Pembroke’s Men were forced to leave London that summer due to an outbreak of the plague. Early Shakespeare plays printed in 1593 and 1594 are heavily associated with the Earl of Pembroke’s Men. These plays would have included Titus Andronicus, The Taming of the Shrew, and particularly Henry VI, Parts 1, 2 and 3.
Theatres were often closed in London in the summer months, especially in the plague season, and the company would have taken a long tour of the Midlands and East Anglia. We know Shakespeare not only travelled with the company but also performed during 1592. Norwich-born writer and dramatist Robert Greene (1558-1592) places Shakespeare at Lynn and confirms this
exact year, when he scathingly referred to Shakespeare as “an upstart crow”.
Tim is also keen to remind me that Shakespeare’s leading comic actor, Robert Armin, was born only a street away from St George’s Guildhall and featured prominently in Shakespeare’s plays. Armin was the first Fest in Twelfth Night, Autolycus in The Winter’s Tale and the Fool in King Lear and is credited with having a major influence on Shakespeare.
The guildhall has a long history and continued to be used for theatrical performances until they were banned in 1642 until the restoration in 1660.
From that period up to the end of the
18th century, various Norwich theatrical companies leased the venue. So successful was the Guildhall Theatre that it was decided to build the Theatre Royal in
1813. The guildhall was sold a year later to William Lee Warner and then to a local mercantile family, the Everards, who used it as a warehouse until it was sold again to GM Bridges & Sons, scenic set designers of the 1920s. The designers even created outdoor sets for Sandringham.
The arrival of cinema ruined Bridges and Sons’ trade and, by the end of
World War Two, the guildhall was in danger of demolition. Had it not been for the efforts of a local man, Alexander Penrose, the guildhall wouldn’t exist today. He was able to secure funding from the Pilgrim’s Trust, the Arts Council and public donation to save the building. The guildhall was given a new lease of life when it was opened as an arts centre by Queen Elizabeth II in 1951 and continues to serve the local and wider community to this day.
For the first time in hundreds of years, it’s been possible to combine academic evidence with scientific and historical evidence from the building itself to prove the connection with William Shakespeare. During restoration and refurbishment, an amazing discovery was made when ancient floorboards were uncovered beneath replacement floors. Dr Jonathan Clark, an expert in historical building, was brought in and used a combination of tree-ring dating and building assemblage to date the floor. The large 12-inch thick oak boards were “locked together and were then pegged through to some bridging beams”. The floorboards are integral to the upstairs theatre and are probably the reason why they were never removed. It’s believed the floor would have been laid by shipwrights and taken a year to create.
Dr Clark believes this floor dated between 1417 and 1430 and is a hugely important discovery. Not only is it the largest 15th century floor in the country, but it is also the sole surviving example of a stage on which Shakespeare acted. As Tim points to the furore and excitement following this find: “I have had messages from America, from Shakespearean experts and right through to ordinary people who have heard about it on the radio or read about it in the paper.” He feels if this has “awoken” people around the world and inspired them to enjoy Shakespeare, which can only be a good thing.
“It’s not just Shakespeare who has trodden the boards here, but everyone in between and we’re trying to make that safe and share it with everybody for the next hundreds of years,” Tim says. As a child, he remembers concerts with Yehudi Menuhin and other names such as John Betjeman, Joyce Grenfell, Peter Ustinov and Ian Mckellen performing in those halcyon days. Tim is passionate about reigniting this dynamic hub, not just for King’s Lynn but for the east of England.
“We are like a ‘sleeping giant’, just waiting to be awakened from our slumber,” he says. At present the borough council ensures there are 5060 performances a year and Tim would like to see this figure raised to 200 and ultimately 300 performances annually.
It’s a large site with many buildings surrounding the guildhall, many of them undergoing restoration and repurposing.
When finally completed in 2026, the arts centre will have created a hub for artists, a restaurant and a coffee shop, a repurposed and extended art gallery, retail outlet, additional performance space (indoor and outdoor) with a vibrant heritage centre at its heart.
The Guildhall has a broad programme including music, theatrical performance, summer schools for children, cinema club, stand-up comedy, lectures, festivals, family murder mysteries and even a Halloween “phantomine”.
Tim wants the future to provide a total experience, accessibility and entertainment for all age groups.
He envisages a time when a visitor “will be able to come to this site in King’s Lynn and hear about these exciting heritage stories, then see various artists in studios making pottery, or willow weaving or producing other crafts. Then, of course, eat there and in the evening come to see a show at the theatre, something the guildhall has been doing for the last 600 years as a place of entertainment.”
As the great bard said: “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players.” Let’s hope in the future all performers can continue to make their entrances and exits at the oldest theatre where Shakespeare once trod the boards.