The first acting troupe to play at the Red Bull were the Queen Anne's Men, formally Worcester's men, who had been at the Rose since early 1600. The Queens Men occupied it until 1617, when they took up residence at the Cockpit Theatre in Drury Lane. In 1625 the Red Bull was renovated and modified.
The Red Bull theater closed for play acting during the Cromwell era but it reopened at the Restoration when Thomas Killigrew's company played there. By 1663 the Red Bull theater was in disuse and was demolished in 1665. The first ‘upgrading’ of an Inn-yard to a playhouse is said to have taken place at The Red Lion, in Stepney in 1567.
