The Globe Theatre was a place where people would go to enjoy themselves and watch a play or two. It didn't matter whether you were rich or nearly poor there was room for you. In its prime the Globe Theatre would draw in over 3,000 people for one play, which is fantastic. The design on it was very original, but was logical also, because there was no electricity, and without electricity you could only perform plays in the daytime so why have a roof? To many this theatre was the best theatre of all time.
The original Globe theatre was built in 1598 on London's Southwark district. It was an open-air octagonal amphitheatre that could hold around 3,000 people. The original spot of the Globe Theatre was occupied with "The Theatre."ÃÂ The Theatre was a simple theatre owned by Cuthbert Burbage. Mr. Burbage owned the materials of the Globe but not the land it was on.
English: Globe Theatre, London, Great Britain – ...
English: The Globe Theatre. The Globe Theatre, Sou...
English: Sketch for inclusion in Wenceslas Hollar'...Cuthbert's son couldn't renew the land lease and The Theatre ended up being torn down. The materials were then shipped across the Thames River and The Globe Theatre was built there.
When the Globe Theatre was finally built there was no real owner so they divided the ownership into shares. Shares were divided up between two groups. The first group was Cuthbert and Richard Burbage. The second group was a group of actors and playwrights known as Chamberlains men. The members of Chamberlains men included John Heminge, Augustine Phillips, Thomas Pope, Will Kempe, and William Shakespeare.
Shakespeare was a well-known playwright before the Globe Theatre opened. But on outbreak of the plague in 1592 caused Shakespeare to write primarily poetry other than plays. In 1594 all the big theatres reopened and Shakespeare went back to writing plays and soon that same year joined a group of traveling actors and playwrights named Chamberlains Men headed by Lord Chamberlain. When the Globe Theatre opened in 1599 Chamberlains Men jumped at an opportunity to have part ownership of the theatre. At the Globe Theatre Shakespeare did some of his best work. Some of his plays done at that time were: Julius Caesar, Hamlet, Twelfth Night, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth, Anthony and Cleopatra, Perkins Prince of Tyre, Cymbeline and The Winters. It is also rumored that Shakespeare himself also acted on the stage during two plays at the Globe Theatre: The Ghost of Hamlets dad in Hamlet and Adam in As you like it. The theatre itself influenced most of the plays Shakespeare wrote during the prime of the Globe Theatre. He would write plays with a person in mind for the lead character almost every time. Without the Globe Theatre some of his classics may have been completely different.
The structure of the Globe was and still is very original. Because of the no roof all performances were done weather permitting. The acoustics were poor and sometimes the actors had to shout their lines so everyone could hear them. On the stage there were many mechanisms such as trap doors for the actors to use. Around the stage was a "pit"ÃÂ where poorer people would go and watch the plays from. Above the pit was a balcony and then another balcony nicknamed the "heavens balcony."ÃÂ The Globe was thriving until 1613 when it came to its untimely death. During the performance of Henry VII a cannon announcing the arrival of the king was fired and sparked a piece of the thrash room on fire. The whole theatre was soon burnt down because of the very flammable timber wood it was made out of. After it was burnt down it was soon rebuilt in the same spot. It stood there for another 29 years until the Puritans tore it down. There reason was that they needed to make room for housing. The original foundations remained buried until 1989. The discovery of the foundations led to more accurate assumptions of the dimensions of the theatre. The reconstruction of the globe started that same year, and it was finished in the mid 90's, and the regular season of plays started in 1996. There are now Globe Theatres all around the world. The buildings are apart of the International Shakespeare Globe Theatre.
This theatre was one of the few ways to get entertainment in those days. Now we take advantage of T.V. and the radio. But just think that there were only a few TV's in every town and they were in big buildings and everyone watched them at one time. That was kind of like it was back then with the Globe Theatre. The Globe was as you could say one of the buildings with the TV's inside. This was an important building and I hope I could attend a Play in the Globe Theatre in London sometime
The pit and upper levels of the reconstruction of ...
A reconstruction of the Globe Theatre in London, o...
Shakespeare's Globe, London (rebuilt 1997)