The Dream Factory: London's First Playhouse and the Making of William Shakespeare

How Shakespeare became Shakespeare: a riveting tale of London’s first playhouse and the people—actors, writers, builders, investors—who built the Theatre.

Between 1576 and 1598, a playhouse called the Theatre stood in the suburbs of London, until it was secretly torn down and its timbers were used to build the much more famous Globe. Dreamed up and run by a former actor and notorious brawler named James Burbage, the Theatre was the first purpose-built commercial playhouse in London. It was ...