In 1629 a company of French comedians acted here for one day only. After being deserted by the actors, the Red Bull offered various entertainments to the public. There is extant a bill which was formerly in possession of Mr. Eliot Hodgson, advertising a fencing match at the Red Bull on Whit Monday, 30th May, 1664. This is surmounted by a large woodcut of the Royal Arms, and is printed on a sheet of coarse paper, measuring 5⅚ inches by 7½ inches. No authentic view of either the interior or the exterior is in existence.
Above the illustration of the Red Bull Theatre check will be found a facsimile of an admission to the Roman Coliseum, built A.D. 72. This rare specimen is perfectly genuine, and was purchased by me many years ago at the Buxton Forman sale. It is an interesting souvenir of ancient theatrical times; the numerals, VII, on the reverse refer to one of the sections of the vast building, and may have been a complimentary ticket before the tax on deadheads came into vogue.
When the building was finally demolished is likewise uncertain. An interesting metal check ticket, giving admittance to the Upper Gallery of the Red Bull, is extant, the date of which is between the Restoration and the closing of the Red Bull as a theatre, namely, 1660–1663. The obverse has the head of a bull, within a wreath, tied in a knot with ribbons; a double ring encircles the entire figure. The reverse has simply the words Upper Gallery one above the other, a star is over the second P in upper, and another under the second L of Gallery; the whole is within a double lined circle.
Facsimile of an admission ticket to the Roman Coliseum. Circa A.D. 90. Reproduced from a genuine ivory ticket in the possession of the Author.
Ticket of Admission to the Red Bull Theatre.
The writer of an article on Shakespeare, in which an illustration appears, considers this check as a souvenir of the Globe; this ascription may be due to a clerical error. Most writers on Shakesperean matters, unless they are expert students, are seldom accurate in their statements; they are too apt in seeking information from paragraphs culled from ancient encyclopædias, a very unsafe medium for sound knowledge. Almost every sentence requires patient research; in some instances a dozen or more books must be consulted in verifying quite an ordinary statement, and very few writers possess the necessary patience for such monotonous work. For suchlike people I would recommend novel writing—a much easier task, and which can be pursued without interruption.
The large theatre in the foreground is the Second Globe Theatre, 1614. The small one is the Hope.