1564
Playwright, poet and actor William Shakespeare is born in Stratford-Upon-Avon.
1567
The Red Lion playhouse is built in Whitechapel, London. It is the first permanent theatre building in England, but it is not known how long the building survived.
1572
The Mayor of London bans plays in the city as a means of restricting the spread of the plague. Three years later he evicts all players from London, forcing them to start constructing playhouses outside the city walls.
1576
"The Theatre" is built in the grounds of the dissolved Halliwell (or Holywell) Priory in Shoreditch by James Burbage and his brother-in-law Mr Brayne, who had owned the Red Lion playhouse.
1577
The Curtain Theatre is built in Shoreditch just 200 yards from Burbage's The Theatre.
1577
The approximate year that Newington Butts Theatre is built just outside the city of London, in keeping with regulations of the time.
1582
William Shakespeare marries Anne Hathaway.
1587
The Rose Theatre is built by Philip Henslowe and John Cholmley in Bankside, London. It would later be the first purpose-built theatre to stage one of Shakespeare's plays.
1590
Around this time (although the exact time is unknown) Shakespeare writes his first play, Henry VI, Part 1, and leaves Stratford for London.
1593
The bubonic plague strikes London, killing 5% of the city's residents and forcing the theatres to close until the following year.
1594
A company of actors called The Lord Chamberlain's Men is founded under the patronage of the then Lord Chamberlain: Henry Carey, 1st Baron Hunsdon. The players performed at The Theatre in Shoreditch until 1597 when they moved to the nearby Curtain Theatre. Shakespeare purchases shares in the company.
1595
The Swan Theatre is built in Southwark by Francis Langley.
1598
A 1598 print of Love's Labour's Lost becomes the first publication to feature Shakespeare's name on the title page.
1599
The Globe Theatre is built in London. Shakespeare himself owns a 12.5% stake.
1603
Elizabeth I dies and is succeeded by James I (VI of Scotland).
1603
The acting company with which Shakespeare is involved, The Lord Chamberlain's Men, is granted a Royal Patent by King James I. They take on the name 'King's Men'.
1607
Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement in the Americas, is established. It is named after King James I.
1609
Shakespeare publishes 154 of his sonnets which explore themes of beauty, sex and love.
1611
The approximate year that Shakespeare returns to Stratford from London.
1613
Along with fellow playwright John Fletcher, Shakespeare co-writes his last play, The Two Noble Kinsmen.
1616
William Shakespeare dies at Stratford-upon-Avon. Although the exact date is not known, the most frequently cited date is the 23rd April 1616.
1620
The journey of the Mayflower, taking the Pilgrim Fathers from England and Holland to the New World.
1623
Shakespeare's First Folio, or 'Mr. William Shakespeare's Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies' is published. It contains 36 of Shakespeare's plays, compiled by his friends and colleagues John Heminges and Henry Condell.
1625
James I dies and is succeeded by Charles I.
1632
Shakespeare's Second Folio is published, containing some language revisions from the 1623 First Folio.
1642 - 1651
English Civil War.
1644
The Globe Theatre is demolished by the Puritans, who two years previously had outlawed all plays and theatres.
1660
The Restoration of Charles II sees theatres and the performances of plays legalised again.
1660 - 1669
Samuel Pepys keeps his famous diary, detailing eye-witness accounts of important events.
1663
Shakespeare's Third Folio is published.
1663
The first theatre at Drury Lane is built by Thomas Killigrew. It would be destroyed and rebuilt three times over the next 150 years. The fourth incarnation, built in 1812, is still in use today.
1665 - 1666
The Great Plague of London, the last major epidemic of bubonic plague to occur in England.
1666
The Great Fire of London. The city burned for four days.
1670 - 1679
King Lear is performed at the Smock Alley Theatre in Dublin, one of many productions to run at this famous theatre.
1670
English actress and poet Susanna Centlivre (born Susanna Freeman and also known as Susanna Carroll) is born.
1671
English playwright, actor-manager and Poet Laureate Colley Cibber is born.
1671 - 1689
Aphra Behn (born Aphra Johnson) was the first female professional writer in English Literature. From the early 1670's she wrote several successful plays. Her most successful would be 'The Rover' which starred Nell Gywn, the mistress of King Charles II.
1681
Nahum Tate rewrites the ending to Shakespeare's King Lear, transforming the ending into a happy one.
1683
The first Sadler's Wells Theatre is opened by Richard Sadler, originally as a 'Musick House'. The name derives partly from the founders last name and partly from his discovery of monastic wells in the grounds of his property, which he claimed had medicinal benefits.
1685 - 1688
Reign of Catholic King James II, deposed on 23 Dec 1688 by the protestant William of Orange.
1689 - 1692
The first Jacobite Rising (Rebellion) takes place, with supporters of the exiled James II rising up against protestant rule.
1692
Nahum Tate becomes England's Poet Laureate.
1702
William of Orange (William II) dies and is succeeded by his sister-in-law Anne.
1705
The Queen's Theatre, Haymarket is opened.
1707
Queen Anne dies childless, and the throne passes to her distant cousin George I, beginning the 'Georgian' period.
1715 - 1716
The second Jacobite Rising, also known as 'The Fifteen'.
1717
English actor, playwright and theatre manager David Garrick is born.
1723
Susanna Centlivre, known as the 'second woman of the English stage' after Aphra Behn, dies following a successful and long career at the Theatre Royal at Drury Lane.
1727
George I dies and is succeeded by his son George II.
1732
The success of The Beggars Opera at Lincoln's Inn Fields allows director and manager John Rich to open the Theatre Royal at Covent Garden.
1733
Actors revolt at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane after Colley Cibber sells his controlling interest to John Highmore at an inflated price.
1734
The first ballet, Pygmalion, is performed at the Theatre Royal in Covent Garden.
1737
Caroline of Ansbach, Queen of Great Britain and the wife of King George II dies. She is widely mourned.
1737
The stage Licensing Act is passed, placing censorship of the British stage under the control of the Lord Chamberlain. He was able to prohibit the performances of new plays and ban amendments to existing plays, without having to justify his decisions. The Act also restricted the performance of spoken drama pieces to patent theatres, originally only the Theatre Royals at Drury Lane and Covent Garden in London.
1738
John Wesley has his evangelical conversion. The beginning of the Methodist Movement.
1738
Riot occurs against French Troupe at Little Theatre Haymarket.
1739
England declares war on Spain. The war became known as the War of Jenkins' Ear after an ear severed by the Spanish from British merchant ship captain and smuggler Robert Jenkins was displayed before parliament.
1740
Death of Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor.
1740
Carlo Goldoni has success reviving the tradition of commedia dell'arte. The tradition which began in 16th century Italy used dance, music and buffoonery and is the basis of modern pantomime.
1740
Successive years of rain and cold weather lead to the Irish Famine, killing an estimated 38% of the 1,740 population.