toured the countryside, but they soon disappeared. Beeston, meantime, had established the Cockpit Theatre in Drury Lane. Beeston's interest in this theatre dates to 1616, when he bought a cockfight ring, possibly employing Inigo Jones to convert it to a theatre. The new establishment, still called the Cockpit Theatre after its former function, opened in 1616. On Shrove Tuesday 1617, a mob of apprentices ransacked and torched the theatre; patrons of the Red Bull, they appear to have been angry that their favourite plays had been moved to the more-exclusive (and expensive) indoor theatre. When Beeston rebuilt the theatre, he named it the Phoenix, but it was still frequently called the Cockpit. Prospering in the theatre business meant negotiating murky waters. Beeston regularly bribed Sir Henry Herbert, the Master of the Revels, and once bought the Master's wife a pair of gloves worth "at least 20 shillings," according to Herbert's approving note. Beeston eventually granted Herbert a share in the profits of Queen Anne's Men. Later life From 1619 until his death in 1638, Beeston ran both theatres with a succession of companies, ranging from Prince Charles' Men and Queen Henrietta's Men to the last group of child actors, commonly called Beeston's Boys. (The actors in this group were significantly older than Elizabethan boy players; a number were in their early twenties.) Beeston's enterprises during these years prospered. The Cockpit offered credible competition to the King's Men at the Blackfriars Theatre for the wealthier set of playgoers; Beeston employed fashionable playwrights such as John Ford and James Shirley to attract these audiences. After the temporary demise and ultimate eclipse of the Fortune Theatre in 1621, the Red Bull was the main attraction in Middlesex for citizens and apprentices. Beeston died in 1638, leaving his theatrical interests in the hands of his son William Beeston. References . External links The rape allegation The design of The Cockpit Some probable causes for The Cockpit's success 1570s births 1638 deaths English theatre directors 17th-century English male actors 16th-century English male actors Male actors from London Boy players English male stage actors English male child actors