Although Shakespeare's plays were performed at other venues during the playwright's career, the Globe Theatre in the Southwark district of London was the venue at which the Bard's best known stage works (including his four great tragedies) were first produced. The Globe was built during Shakespeare's early period in 1599 by one of his long-standing associates, Cuthbert Burbage, the brother of the most famous Shakespearean actor of the Elizabethan Age, Richard Burbage.
In 1597, Cuthbert Burbage inherited another London theater that was the first of its kind and simply called the Theatre. But there was a problem with this valuable legacy: Cuthbert Burbage owned the Theatre, its structure and materials, but the land on which the Theatre was erected was leased by his father and his eldest son was unable to negotiate a renewal of the land lease. The far-sighted if fledgling impresario tore down the Theatre and used its timbers and other elements as the building materials for what would become the Globe Theatre.
Shakespeare's Globe, London (rebuilt 1997)
A reconstruction of the Globe Theatre in London, o...
The pit and upper levels of the reconstruction of ...Before erecting the Globe at a nearby site, Cuthbert assured himself and his partners that they would have a stream of stellar content and the most renowned company of actors in England. Burbage essentially built the Globe for the Chamberlain's Men, including their chief writer, William Shakespeare. The lease for the land and the ownership of the Globe was divided in two: 50 percent of the assets were owned by Cuthbert and, Richard Burbage; the other 50 percent stake was apportioned among five other members of the Chamberlain's men, John Heminge, Augustine Phillips, Thomas Pope, Will Kempe, and, Shakespeare himself.
After some initial successes in the early years of the 1590s with the three parts of Henry VI, The Comedy of Errors and (most importantly) Richard III, during the seasons of 1592 and...