Foundations of early Shakespeare theater uncovered

Foundations of the Curtain Theater, where Shakespeare performed early in his stage career, were uncovered by developers in Shoreditch, London. And they come with a surprise: they're rectangular, not the expected oval shape.

"There is going to have to be a certain amount of revision of the chapter on The Curtain in my book," Bowsher said. "It now seems clear that the playhouse was a conversion of an earlier tenement - essentially a block of flats - and was later converted back into a tenement again.

"There's been a lot of scholarly argument about the shape of Tudor theatres, but the evidence from actors is that it made no difference to the performance of the plays, you could ask them to stand on a chair and they'd just get on and do it."

The Curtain was first found in 2012, and plans for a Shakespeare museum unveiled shortly thereafter, with the ruins encased under a huge transparent glass stage. Other finds on the site include a green eggcup, a broken comb, and a report of a cutpurse's arrest.