The Rose Playhouse


The Rose Playhouse, for which Christopher Marlowe and Ben Jonson wrote some of their greatest plays and in which Shakespeare learned his craft, is unique: its original 16th-century foundations were discovered in 1989 beneath an office building and given a protective concrete cover with floor lighting to outline the remains. Administered by the Rose Theatre Trust, it's open to the public on Saturday open days and for performances; check the website for details.

Transportation

  • underground: London Bridge

Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby attractions

1. Shakespeare's Globe

0.1 MILES

Seeing a play at Shakespeare's Globe – ideally standing under the open-air "wooden O" – is experiencing the playwright's work at its best and most…

2. Clink Prison Museum

0.15 MILES

This one-time private jail, known as the Liberty of the Clink, was used to detain debtors, prostitutes, thieves and numerous Protestants and Catholics…

3. Tate Modern

0.18 MILES

One of London's most amazing attractions, Tate Modern is an outstanding modern- and contemporary-art gallery housed in the creatively revamped Bankside…

4. Millennium Bridge

0.21 MILES

The elegant steel, aluminium and concrete Millennium Bridge staples the south bank of the Thames, in front of Tate Modern, to the north bank, at Peter’s…

5. Golden Hinde

0.22 MILES

Step aboard this replica of privateer Sir Francis Drake's Golden Hinde, the warship that circumnavigated the globe in 1577–1580. Kids will love exploring…

6. Crossbones Garden

0.24 MILES

This peaceful, if slightly ramshackle, garden is an unconsecrated burial ground where those living on the margins of society were buried until 1853. It's…

7. Bankside Gallery

0.26 MILES

Home of the Royal Watercolour Society and the Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers, this friendly, upbeat place has no permanent collection, but there are…

8. Southwark Cathedral

0.26 MILES

Southwark Cathedral, a mostly Victorian construction but with a history dating back many centuries earlier, was the nearest church to what was once the…

  • placement: superzone
  • path: Destinations/POIs/superzone
  • possible size: [970, 250], [970, 90], [728, 90], [1, 1],
  • targeting:
    {
      "url": "england/london/the-south-bank/attractions/the-rose-playhouse/a/poi-sig/371075/1321944",
      "position": "superzone"
    }