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The little that is known of the playhouse that stood in the Newington Butts area can be found in Glynne Wickham, Herbert Berry, and William Ingram's English Professional Theatre, 1530–1660. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000, pages 320–29.

Briefly, there is no evidence of its name, if it had one. The plot belonged to a grocer, Richard Hicks, who subleased it to Richard Thompson, who in turn subleased it to the actor Jerome Savage of Warwick's Men. This latter sublease seems to have occurred on or about 25 March (Lady Day) 1576. The playhouse may predate Burbage's Shoreditch theatre, but there is no evidence that the Newington Butts playhouse was a purpose-built playhouse. It could well have been a building converted to purpose as was the Blackfriars properties. Therefore, there is no very good reason to question the Burbage assertion that the Theatre was the first purpose-built playhouse in London.

The Newington Butts property stood on land 33 yards in breadth (along its west side abutting Newington Butts, the street), 42 yards in breadth along its east side, and 48 yards along its north and south sides. Both a garden and orchard were situated on the land along with the playhouse building.

See also the work of William Ingram, The Business of Playing Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1992, Chapter 6 "A Playhouse at NewingtonL Jerome Savage, 1576," pp. 150–181. In this book he revises his earlier findings printed at Ingram, William. "The Playhouse at Newington Butts: A New Proposal," Shakespeare Quarterly, 21 (1971), 385–98.

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