The Rose Bankside

12/09/2026

This coming Saturday, it's your chance to act where Shakespeare himself once performed as our annual play reading fundraiser returns. Six plays, each cut to one hour. Come for one, or as many as you like. Roles drawn from a hat and scripts provided. Or just sit back and watch! www.trybooking.com/uk/event/117804

03/09/2026

We're reopening our doors on a regular, weekly basis with our new guided tours! Thursdays, 17 Sept – 29 Oct. Booking link in article or at www.roseplayhouse.org.uk/guided-tours

You’ll be be able to view the archeological remains of the Rose Playhouse for the first time in six years.

🔗 Link in comments to find out more.

31/08/2026

25 years ago: 'The first performance within the walls of the Rose Theatre since 1605'. Christopher Marlowe's Doctor Faustus, with Anton Lesser as Faustus and David Bradley as Mephistopheles, was directed by Sonia Ritter for the Lions part theatre company, and ran for four nights Wed 29 Aug – Sat 1 Sept 2001. And so, after nearly four centuries, The Rose was reborn as a venue for live theatre. Did you see it?

29/08/2026

Just three weeks to go... There are only 4 tickets left to take part in Twelfth Night and just 6 for A Midsummer Night's Dream, so book your tickets while you can!

ROSE-A-THON 2026 – Saturday 19 Sept, 12 noon until 8.30pm
Our annual play-reading fundraiser returns! More info & book: www.roseplayhouse.org.uk/whats-on

Whether you want to get up on your feet and participate or you prefer to just relax and watch from the audience, this is a chance to enjoy the genius of William Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe and Ben Jonson – all of whom wrote plays that were originally performed here at The Rose during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I.

You can choose to join us for just one play or as many as you like, as we gallop through six plays in one day.

12 noon
Twelfth Night
✧
1.30pm
Doctor Faustus
✧
3.00pm
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
✧
4.30pm
Titus Andronicus
✧
6.00pm
The Alchemist
✧
7.30pm
Hamlet

Each play has been cut to last just one hour.

Roles will be drawn from a hat 20 minutes before the start of each play, and scripts will be provided.

(Please note that we may be joined by one or two celebrities or professional actors for each play, volunteering to donate their time to us, in which case they may be allocated a particular part in advance – we hope you’ll enjoy the chance to read alongside them!)

No prior acting experience is necessary, but – if you can – we do ask you to stand when it’s your turn to speak.

There is no entry to the building during the plays, but the site will be open half an hour before each play for drinks, snacks, and learning about The Rose.

25/08/2026

The remains of one of London’s earliest theatres are reopening to visitors this autumn, with tickets now available for new guided tours.

19/08/2026

ROSE GUIDED TOURS Thursdays, 17 Sept – 29 Oct. More info & book: www.roseplayhouse.org.uk/guided-tours

In September and October the archaeological remains of The Rose Playhouse on Bankside — where Shakespeare worked and acted — will be open on a regular weekly basis for the first time in six years with specialist guided tours.

This is a unique opportunity for visitors to see the remains of the theatre where plays like Shakespeare’s first tragedy Titus Andronicus and Christopher Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus and Tamburlaine the Great were once staged.

Visitors will be shown the archaeological remains of the playhouse which are preserved underwater and outlined with rope lights.

Guides will tell the story of The Rose from its construction in 1587 to its closure around 1603, then the rediscovery of the remains in 1989 and the campaign to save them and guarantee their future.

The tours run every Thursday from September 17 to October 29, and start on the hour from 10am to 3pm, and last about 45 minutes.

Tickets: £12 / £8 concessions (students / unemployed / National Disability Card / OAPS / Equity members / Friends of The Rose).

Places are FREE for Southwark residents (with proof of address), and for up to four children aged 15-and-under when accompanied by an adult.

Booking required.

18/08/2026

Have you booked your tickets yet?

ROSE-A-THON 2026 – Saturday 19 Sept, 12 noon until 8.30pm
Our annual play-reading fundraiser returns! More info & book: www.roseplayhouse.org.uk/whats-on

Whether you want to get up on your feet and participate or you prefer to just relax and watch from the audience, this is a chance to enjoy the genius of William Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe and Ben Jonson – all of whom wrote plays that were originally performed here at The Rose during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I.

You can choose to join us for just one play or as many as you like, as we gallop through six plays in one day.

12 noon
Twelfth Night
✧
1.30pm
Doctor Faustus
✧
3.00pm
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
✧
4.30pm
Titus Andronicus
✧
6.00pm
The Alchemist
✧
7.30pm
Hamlet

Each play has been cut to last just one hour.

Roles will be drawn from a hat 20 minutes before the start of each play, and scripts will be provided.

(Please note that we may be joined by one or two celebrities or professional actors for each play, volunteering to donate their time to us, in which case they may be allocated a particular part in advance – we hope you’ll enjoy the chance to read alongside them!)

No prior acting experience is necessary, but – if you can – we do ask you to stand when it’s your turn to speak.

There is no entry to the building during the plays, but the site will be open half an hour before each play for drinks, snacks, and learning about The Rose.

24/07/2026

ROSE-A-THON 2026 – Saturday 19 Sept, 12 noon until 8.30pm
Our annual play-reading fundraiser returns! More info & book: www.roseplayhouse.org.uk/whats-on

Whether you want to get up on your feet and participate or you prefer to just relax and watch from the audience, this is a chance to enjoy the genius of William Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe and Ben Jonson – all of whom wrote plays that were originally performed here at The Rose during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I.

You can choose to join us for just one play or as many as you like, as we gallop through six plays in one day.

12 noon
Twelfth Night
✧
1.30pm
Doctor Faustus
✧
3.00pm
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
✧
4.30pm
Titus Andronicus
✧
6.00pm
The Alchemist
✧
7.30pm
Hamlet

Each play has been cut to last just one hour.

Roles will be drawn from a hat 20 minutes before the start of each play, and scripts will be provided.

(Please note that we may be joined by one or two celebrities or professional actors for each play, volunteering to donate their time to us, in which case they may be allocated a particular part in advance – we hope you’ll enjoy the chance to read alongside them!)

No prior acting experience is necessary, but – if you can – we do ask you to stand when it’s your turn to speak.

There is no entry to the building during the plays, but the site will be open half an hour before each play for drinks, snacks, and learning about The Rose.

20/06/2026

This Monday, 6.30pm online, with Prof Stephen Greenblatt & Dr Paul Edmondson – we hope you can join us!

Monday 22 June @ 6.30pm BST online, £8 / £5 students & Friends.
Marlowe’s Suddenness: A Conversation with Professor Stephen Greenblatt & Dr Paul Edmondson.
More info & book: www.roseplayhouse.org.uk/whats-on

How did Christopher Marlowe, the son of a Canterbury shoe-maker, become such a powerful reader and writer? How was he involved in espionage? And why was he murdered in 1593, aged just 29?

Join us as Professor Stephen Greenblatt discusses Shakespeare’s rival genius, Marlowe – a playwright intimately acquainted with The Rose – in conversation with Dr Paul Edmondson from the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust.

Greenblatt is one of the most influential writers on Renaissance literature, and his latest book Dark Renaissance: The Dangerous Times and Fatal Genius of Shakespeare’s Greatest Rival, Christopher Marlowe is an evocative and riveting account of Marlowe’s life and career, illustrating the excitement, brilliance, and danger of the age.

11/06/2026

Monday 22 June @ 6.30pm BST online, £8 / £5 students & Friends.
Marlowe’s Suddenness: A Conversation with Professor Stephen Greenblatt & Dr Paul Edmondson.
More info & book: www.roseplayhouse.org.uk/whats-on

How did Christopher Marlowe, the son of a Canterbury shoe-maker, become such a powerful reader and writer? How was he involved in espionage? And why was he murdered in 1593, aged just 29?

Join us as Professor Stephen Greenblatt discusses Shakespeare’s rival genius, Marlowe – a playwright intimately acquainted with The Rose – in conversation with Dr Paul Edmondson from the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust.

Greenblatt is one of the most influential writers on Renaissance literature, and his latest book Dark Renaissance: The Dangerous Times and Fatal Genius of Shakespeare’s Greatest Rival, Christopher Marlowe is an evocative and riveting account of Marlowe’s life and career, illustrating the excitement, brilliance, and danger of the age.