Hope Theatre

Hope Theatre, London playhouse that served as both a theatre and an arena for bearbaiting and bullbaiting, located on the Bankside in Southwark in what had been the Bear Garden. Philip Henslowe and Jacob Meade built the theatre in 1613–14 for Lady Elizabeth’s Men. The contract for the Hope, dated Aug. 29, 1613, and one of the few surviving documents describing the structure of Jacobean theatres, indicates that, except for its movable stage, it was modeled after the Swan Theatre.

One of the first plays written for the Hope was Ben Jonson’s Bartholomew Fair, performed by Lady Elizabeth’s Men in the fall of 1614. Although the agreement with this troupe stipulated that bearbaiting would occupy the Hope only once every two weeks, that sport proved to be more profitable than the plays, and disputes soon developed over priorities, provoking players to quit the theatre after Henslowe’s death in 1616. Although the theatre was rarely used for plays after that, bearbaiting continued until 1656, when the Hope was closed in response to several bearbaiting accidents.