People had been watching and performing plays for centuries, groups of strolling players had been performing on the back of a cart, in inn yards or market places, but in Elizabethan England the commercial theatre was a new innovation.
In 1576 the first purpose built theatre was erected in Shoreditch called 'The Theatre' by James Burbage. The Theatre did well and within a year 'The Curtain' was built. In 1585 Philip Henslowe and Edward Alleyn built 'The Rose' in Southwark.
At the end of the 1590's 'The Theatre' was dismantled and moved to the south of the river, where it became known as 'The Globe', the best known Elizabethan Theatre because of its association with Shakespeare, who owned a share of it.