High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Blackfriars Theatre was the name of a theatre in the Blackfriars district of the City of London during the Renaissance. The theatre began as a venue for child actors associated with the Queen`s chapel choirs; in this function, the theatre hosted some of the most innovative drama of Elizabeth and James`s reigns, from the euphuism of John Lyly to the stinging satire of Ben Jonson, George Chapman, and John Marston. The theatre eventually passed into the control of the King`s Men, who used it as their winter playhouse until the theatres were closed in 1642.