St Georges Guildhall in Norfolk, England

St Georges Guildhall in King’s Lynn, Norfolk , England was built around 1420 as a guildhall for a religious fellowship (not to be confused with merchant and craft  guilds which served a different  purpose) in King’s Lynn. Religious guilds and the closely related chantries were dissolved by Edward  VI in 1547 at which time the guildhall became the property of Lynn Corporation (the dissolution was largely  motivated by the transfer assets from religious  institutions to the Crown). It is the largest surviving medieval guildhall in the country.

From the start of its history the building was used for theatrical performances, at first amateur ones but quickly by professional troupes of actors, the first being a nativity play in 1445 and initially the performances  were, mainly, religious plays. After the dissolution of the religious guilds the building was regularly used by a variety of theatrical companies and local tradition has it that William Shakespeare appeared here as an actor, as part of the troupe called the Earl of Pembroke’s men in 1593 at a time when troupes of players were driven out of London by the plague. Shakespeare’s best known comic actor Robert Armin was born one street away. A scene, in Hamlet, is widely said to have been inspired by an incident in King’s Lynn.

Theatrical performances were curtailed when banned by the Commonwealth Government of Oliver Cromwell in the early 17th century but resumed after Charles II regained his throne in 1660. After a competing theatre was constructed in the town the guildhall was sold (1826) and for a short time was used as a warehouse. After a number of other uses, including a period of dereliction, the guildhall was restored by the architect Marshall Sisson and then given to the National Trust (1951). Subsequently it has been developed into an arts centre and theatre with the former warehouses in the courtyard were converted into art galleries as early as 1963.

Tree ring dating had shown that a floor exposed during renovations in 2023 dated from the time that Shakespeare is reputed to have performed here. In 2024  a door was exposed behind a plasterboard panel which was 600 years old  and is thought to have been the entrance to the dressing room used by Shakespeare.