Acted at the Red Bull, by the late
Queenes Seruants.
LONDON,
Printed for Richard Meighen, and are to be sold at his Shops
at Saint Clements Church, ouer-against Essex House, and
at Westminster Hall. 1620.
(Original Image)
In 1616 Allen leased the theatre to the Admiral’s men, thus becoming responsible only for the building. The loss of everything else through the fire fell upon the shoulders of the company. An account of the burning of the Fortune Theatre is recorded under the date of December 15th, 1621, in a letter written by John Chamberlain to Sir Dudley Carleton. “On Sunday night there was a great fire at the Fortune, in Golden Lane, the fayrest playhouse in this town. It was quite burnt downe in two hours and all their apparell and playbooks lost, whereby the poor companions are quite undone.”
A new Fortune arose three years later on the site of the old one, namely in 1624. An improvement in the building was effected by constructing the house of brick. Allen possessed shares in the new theatre, otherwise he had no interest or responsibility in the undertaking.
During the Civil War the theatre was dismantled, and the playhouse ceased for evermore its connexion with the drama. In 1682, Church Services were held there, and finally it became many years later a fully established brewery. The shape of the interior of the second Fortune is a matter of controversy, well known experts disagreeing on this point. The exterior is illustrated in Wilkinson’s Londonia, and shows a square-shaped building.