A troupe of performers, just after Shakespeare’s time in 1614 London, built a new arena, called the Hope Theatre, to house their plays. Eager to get onto the boards, they conceded to the Crown’s insistence that they build their arena as a dual-purpose venue, also suitable for the fighting of bears. Yes, bears. Bear-baiting was quite the sport back then and proved ever-so-much-more profitable than their witty erudition and theatricalities, and although the performers’ contract specifically limited the frequence of bear-baiting events to once every two weeks…well, you see where this is headed, and so should have they. If you had to guess, which do you think the London theatre-goers of 1614 would rather see: A new verse drama by, say, Ben Jonson — or two ravenous bears fight each other? Not a fair question. Not a fair fight. The poet always loses to the bear.
The Hope Theatre
