What’s on
Join us for talks, play readings, open days, costume demonstrations, guided walks, and more…
Some events are online, some take place on the site of The Rose Playhouse itself.
We are yet to open on a daily basis, but will do so just as soon as we can.
Just by buying a ticket you are helping to support our mission, so please do come along!
Coming events…
ONLINE TALK
Monday 13th October 2025
6.30pm online
PAGE OF PLYMOUTH
Ben Jonson & Thomas Dekker's lost play
In conjunction with Literature Works
An introduction to ‘Page of Plymouth’, an exciting new project launching in Plymouth, centred on the now lost domestic tragedy of the same name by Ben Jonson and Thomas Dekker, and looking at theatre, popular culture and narratives of ordinary lives in Plymouth then and now.
The play was written for The Rose in the summer of 1599 and performed there that autumn. It tells the story of a notorious murder that took place in Plymouth in 1591, when George Page (or ‘Padge’), a goldsmith, was murdered by his young wife Ulalia and her lover George Strangwidge.
This is the first of a series of five Rose talks on Page of Plymouth, and will be presented by Producer and Dramaturg, David Prescott, alongside CEO of Literature Works, Helen Chaloner.
The talk will include accounts of the murder taken from contemporary pamphlets and Thomas Deloney’s Execution Ballads, alongside extracts of Jonson’s poetry and Arden of Faversham, read by actors Beth Park and Tim Frances.
‘Page of Plymouth’ is a project of Literature Works, a charity and an Arts Council England National Portfolio organisation in Southwest England using words and stories to support creativity and wellbeing.
Tickets:
£8 / £5 students & Friends
DISCOVERY DAY
Saturday 25 October 2025
1pm & 3pm onsite at The Rose
THE ALLEYNS’ 433rd WEDDING ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION
Organised by The Friends of The Rose
Join us for a celebration of Edward and Joan Alleyns’ Wedding Anniversary.
He was The Rose’s leading actor and she was the step-daughter of The Rose’s owner, Philip Henslowe. They were married in 1592, and always celebrated theirs.
Come and discover how a rich, aspiring middle-class Elizabethan couple would have celebrated such an event:
What food would they have eaten?
How would it have been presented?
What entertainment would have been on offer?
You’ll be able to partake of a few Tudor sweetmeats, and if you want to you can join in with the dancing!
Tickets:
£10 / £7 Friends of The Rose
ONLINE TALK
Monday 27th October 2025
6.30pm online
INTRODUCING PHILIP HENSLOWE’S ROSE
Professor Grace Ioppolo
In conjunction with Literature Works
How did The Rose Playhouse come into being? Who was involved? And how was it used and maintained?
On 10 Jan 1587, local businessman Philip Henslowe signed a ‘Deed of Partnership’ with a grocer, John Cholmley, to build a new playhouse on a plot of land on Bankside called the Little Rose Estate, and changed the course of English theatre.
The deed still survives and is kept in the library of Dulwich College. Professor Grace Ioppolo, Founder and Director of the Henslowe-Alleyn Digitisation Project will explore this foundational document in detail, placing it within the context of the other early purpose-built playhouses in London from 1576, and ask what it reveals about theatre, archaeological and social history.
The talk will then look at Henslowe’s later business partnership with his son-in-law, the actor Edward Alleyn, through their other surviving documents, including the single most important record of early modern English playhouse performance and production, Henslowe’s famous ‘Diary’.
Tickets:
£8 / £5 students & Friends
‘Page of Plymouth’ is a project of Literature Works, a charity and an Arts Council England National Portfolio organisation in Southwest England using words and stories to support creativity and wellbeing.
DISCOVERY DAY
Saturday 1 November 2025
2pm onsite at The Rose
PLAY READING : RICHARD II
Organised by The Friends of The Rose
Find out about cue scripts – what they were and how Elizabethan actors used them to learn their parts.
Then you can take part in a play reading of a one hour long version of Richard II by William Shakespeare, written in 1595.
Roles will be drawn from a hat, and scripts provided.
Of – if you prefer – you can just watch!
Tickets:
Take part : £10 / £7 Friends
Watch : £5
ONLINE TALK
Monday 10th November 2025
7.30pm online
PUB CRAWLING WITH PLAYHOUSES
Professor Laurie Johnson
What was the relationship between theatres and venues for the consumption of food and – especially – drink?
Philip Henslowe financed The Rose Playhouse under an agreement with John Cholmley to run a victualling house or taphouse on the same property, a fact that can be reconsidered as a logical product of a century or more of pubs being linked to playing venues of different types.
Join Professor Laurie Johnson of the University of Southern Queensland and current President of the Marlowe Society of America for an enjoyable ramble around the inns, taverns, and tap houses of early modern London, as he explores their role in the emergence of playhouse culture and theatrical entrepreneurship during the transition from medieval drama to professional playing in the Elizabethan era.
Please note the later than usual start time of 7.30pm
Tickets:
£8 / £5 students & Friends
ONLINE TALK
Monday 24th November 2025
6.30pm online
JOAN ALLEYN – NO MOUSE
Calista Lucy
What do we know about Philip Henslowe’s step-daughter, Joan?
Although her husband – The Rose’s leading actor, Edward Alleyn – addressed her in letters with various terms of endearment, it is clear from several incidents in her life that she was far from being a shy deer, or retiring, timid mouse.
She was born as Joan Woodward, and unusually for a woman from early English middling society we know a great deal about her, including what she looked like from her portrait in the Dulwich Picture Gallery.
Join Calista Lucy, former Keeper of the Archive at Dulwich College, for an illustrated talk using documents from the Henslowe-Alleyn papers that are held there, as she pieces together the biography of this pivotal figure in the history of The Rose, to attempt to bring Joan Alleyn to life.
Tickets:
£8 / £5 students & Friends
Coming to an event onsite at The Rose?
For information about your visit:
You can download our FREE DIGITAL GUIDE to use during your visit, or to explore The Rose virtually anytime, anywhere.
The Rose Sonic Trail: A Playgoer’s Journey
Step into the shoes of an Elizabethan playgoer with this immersive 75 minute audio walk that begins and ends at The Rose.
It is 1594, and Christopher Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus is playing at The Rose. Explore the local area with one of the actors, Jonathan Singer, as your guide, and encounter the stories, sounds, and characters of Philip Henslowe’s London.
You may be surprised by what you hear!
