FIRST OFF . . .

Dustin Hoffman, Laurence Olivier, Dame Peggy Ashcroft and other actors have urged the British government to halt a new office project on the remains of a 16th-Century theater where Shakespeare once acted. In a letter to the newspaper The Independent, Hoffman and 15 actors and directors called for the site of the Rose Theater, located on the south bank of the Thames, to be designated an ancient monument to ensure its preservation. Without the designation, the recently discovered remains will be irrevocably damaged by the construction work due to start today, they said. Archeologists, who have been trying to excavate as much as possible before the bulldozers move in, uncovered the stage, the mortar foundation of the open yard where theatergoers stood and the base of inner and outer walls that would have supported three galleries. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher last week told the House of Commons that “everything possible” will be done to preserve the theater. Records show that the theater, built in 1587, was demolished not long after Shakespeare acted there in 1592. The first traces of the Rose were discovered three months ago after an office building was demolished on the site to make room for a new one.