London’s newest museum — dedicated to William Shakespeare — will open on the site of an Elizabethan playhouse in east London.
Visitors to the site, built on the remains of the Curtain Theatre in Shoreditch, will be transported back to its Shakespearean heyday through the use of the latest AI technology.
The Museum of Shakespeare, which is due to open next spring, will include historical displays as well as a projected reconstruction of the original theatre above the remains of the stage that will host animated performances and workshops, bringing to life the sights, smells and sounds of the playwright’s London in 1598.
It is the work of designers Bompas & Parr whose immersive experiences have included a project for the Guinness Storehouse in Dublin and creating a flavour rainbow for a festival at the Royal Docks.
They have collaborated with Historic England and Museum of London Archaeology on the site which was uncovered over five years from 2011 when archaeologists found evidence of tenements built after the stage was shut down as well as ceramic money boxes used to collect entry fees, costume beads and coins.
They also found the remains of a 14m stage and evidence of a tunnel on the site which is part of a wider redevelopment of the area by Cain International who are building offices and homes there. The Curtain, which opened in 1577 and closed in 1624, was the main venue for Shakespeare’s company before the building of the Globe and saw performances of Romeo and Juliet and Henry IV Part I and Part II as well as plays by contemporaries including Ben Jonson.
Bompas & Parr co-founder Harry Parr said: “The Museum of Shakespeare will be the most ambitious project that Bompas & Parr has undertaken and is in line with our mission to create location-based experiences that make London a more interesting place and a city unrivalled in its cultural importance. This will be Shakespeare as you have never experienced it before.”
Heather Knight, senior archaeologist at heritage practice MOLA, said: “Leading the excavations on the site of the Curtain, one of London’s earliest and longest-lived playhouses, that have transformed our understanding of early modern performance, has been an immense privilege.”
