About 1576 Burbadge built his theatre in the Liberty of the Blackfriars--a precinct in which civic authority was at any rate disputed.

Within a year or so The Curtain and The Theatre, both in Shoreditch, were also opened to the public.

The Mayor and Corporation persistently endeavoured to assert authority over these establishments, but without much practical result.

It may be added that the Blackfriars Theatre was permanently closed in 1647, part of the ground on which it stood, adjoining Apothecaries' Hall, still bearing the name of Playhouse Yard; that The Theatre in Shoreditch was abandoned about 1598 (it was probably a wooden erection, and in twenty years might have become untenantable); and that The Curtain fell into disuse at the beginning of the reign of Charles I.
The prices of admission to the theatres varied according to the estimation in which they were held, and were raised on special occasions.

"Twopenny rooms," or galleries, were to be found at the larger and more popular theatres.