Historic theatre discovers 15th century door that may have led to a dressing room

Experts believe a “strange shape” in the wall of the UK’s oldest theatre still in use was once the entrance to a dressing room – and this may once have been used by William Shakespeare.

The entrance was discovered during excavations at St George’s Guildhall, a historic theatre in King’s Lynn, Norfolk. During recent excavations, experts decided to investigate an oddly shaped section of plastered wall on the theatre’s ground floor that the Guildhall’s creative director, Tim FitzHigham, had long wondered about, according to a statement from the local council.

Specialists helped remove two information panels and an 18th-century brick wall. Beneath these layers they found an “extraordinary” archway that was much older.

“It must have been before 1405, as the medieval roof of the hall overhangs it,” FitzHigham says in the statement.

The first recorded performance at St. George’s Guildhall took place in 1445 – “a full 119 years before Shakespeare was born,” as the London Just“, writes Jack Blackburn. Built in the early 15th century, the hall originally served as a meeting place for members of a medieval guild, who were probably the first to use the newly discovered entrance.

“Further investigation has revealed that the arch is the door to what is believed to be the guild’s dressing room,” says FitzHigham. “This room was used by members of the highest guild to change into their ceremonial dress before the feast upstairs.”

However, the Guild eventually stopped using the hall, FitzHigham adds, at which point the dressing room probably became a dressing room or “tiring house” for visiting actors who performed there. During Shakespeare’s lifetime, the theatre was heavily frequented by travelling playwrights, such as Queen Elizabeth’s Men, an acting troupe founded in 1583 that performed at St George’s Guildhall nearly a dozen times.

As Jonathan Clark, an archaeological building expert working at the hall, says in the statement, the location of the archway in the Guild Hall – possibly at the end of a staircase – provides clues as to the purpose of the room.

“It would have given (the actors) a private room where they could put things down, change and then go upstairs to appear in their costumes on the first floor,” he says, adding that the “medium-sized, low-status room” may have been separated only by a curtain.

Although Shakespeare is best known today for his witty and timeless plays, such as Macbeth And A Midsummer Night’s Dreamhe was also an actor for nearly two decades. Some historians believe that Shakespeare performed with the Earl of Pembroke’s Men at King’s Lynn in 1592 and 1593, when London’s theaters were closed due to an outbreak of plague. During this time, the playwright may have changed in the dressing room of St. George’s Guildhall before taking the stage.

“This is another amazing discovery at the Guildhall,” FitzHigham said in the statement. “We have a door that definitely must have been here during the years that Shakespeare played here. … It is simply amazing that a slight curve or odd shape in the wall has once again turned out to be something distinctly out of the ordinary.”

Last year, the theatre announced the discovery of the stage’s original floorboards, which date back to the early 15th century. Guildhall staff believe the Bard may have performed on them between 1592 and 1593.

However, the question of whether Shakespeare actually performed in this theater has been the subject of heated debate among scholars.

“In Shakespeare’s case, we don’t really know who he played with before 1594,” said Siobhan Keenan, a Shakespeare and Renaissance literature scholar at England’s De Montfort University, who New York Times‘ Derrick Bryson Taylor in October. Although the Earl of Pembroke’s Men performed at the Guildhall, Shakespeare’s involvement with the troupe was “speculative”, she added.

Tiffany Stern, a Shakespeare scholar at England’s University of Birmingham, meanwhile, thought it was “very likely” that the Bard was a member of the Earl of Pembroke’s Men. As she told BBC News’ Colin Paterson, “The evidence that he was there needs to be pieced together, but it’s pretty strong.”