Theatre may be a grand old tradition, but exactly how old? Or how old, at least, in Hull? Our cub reporter Angus Young dives into the mysterious world of the thespians.
The first recorded play performed in Hull was in 1473 when Noah and the Flood was staged outside Holy Trinity Church, now known as Hull Minister. This adaptation of the Biblical story became an annual event held on Plough Monday, marking the traditional start of the agricultural year in early January. Organised by the Guild of Mariners at Trinity House, it featured a purpose-built wooden ship suspended inside the church from its roof before being taken down and paraded around the town, finally coming to a rest outside the church where it became the focal point of the outdoor performance.
Beyond this traditional spectacle, theatrical shows were largely banned in Hull until the mid-18th century. The reason for the clampdown was largely religious and could well have been triggered by none other than William Shakespeare.
In 1599 Hull was governed by a group of Aldermen who, as well as being wealthy merchants and shipowners, were also strict Puritans who viewed acting as both ungodly and wicked. In September that year an unknown travelling company of players visited Hull and found an inn to stage at least one performance. It was enough to spur the Alderman into action. They hastily passed a new bye-law making it an offence for any inhabitant to attend future performances. Venues were also banned from hosting travelling players and risked a fine if they did.
There is no actual record of the actors who triggered all this but local historian Helen Good believes they could have been Shakepeare’s travelling company who he often accompanied on its travels.
Elsewhere, players would normally arrive in a town and apply to the mayor or its governing body for permission to perform. In Hull there is no documented evidence of any such applications in the years up to and including 1599, suggesting the Puritan town was not exactly an entertainment hotspot and that the company’s visit was unexpected.
It is known that Shakespeare’s company, the Lord Chamberlain’s Men, was on tour at the exact same time with one 18th century author claiming a performance had been given in Edinburgh for King James VI in the same month and year as the one-off play in Hull. Had the actors sailed from London using Hull as a stopping point on their journey to Scotland? No-one knows but Helen is inclined to at least imagine Shakespeare being sent packing by Hull’s straight-laced Puritan Aldermen in much the same way as city councillors once banned Monty Python’s Life of Brian from being shown in local cinemas.
“There is a possibility that Shakespeare, the single greatest cultural figure this country has ever produced, came to Hull and was thrown out of town by the Corporation as an undesirable,” she said. “Somebody came to Hull in September 1599 but was it the Lord Chamberlain’s Men and was Shakespeare with them? From the complaints of the touring actors in Hamlet, first performed in the next year, I would say without hesitation that wherever the Lord Chamberlain’s Men did go, Shakespeare went with them and the experience was not to be a happy one. As to whether the company came to Hull, that is an open question.”
Whoever did visit, they probably stayed and performed at the King’s Head in High Street. At the time, it was the largest inn in the town with a yard capable of being used to stage a play with a paying audience.
The ban on public plays in Hull probably didn’t stop private performances in the houses of wealthy merchants but it took until 1767 for the town to have its own purpose-built theatre which stood in Lowgate. Two years later a larger venue called the Theatre Royal was opened in Finkle Street in what is now the Fruit Market area. It was replaced in 1810 by an even bigger theatre in nearby Humber Street which could hold 1,700 people.
The golden age of theatre in Hull was about to begin.
By Angus Young