Shakespeare's Globe Theatre

Address: Bankside , SE1 9ED

Architectural Style: Replica Elizabethan

Architect: McCurdy & Co. Ltd.

Opened: 1997

Capacity: 900 (650 standing in the yard)

The Globe Theatre normally refers to one of three theatres in London associated with William Shakespeare. These are:

(1) The playing company to which Shakespeare belonged. They built the Globe in 1599. It was destroyed by fire on June 29, 1613,

(2) The Globe Theatre that was rebuilt by June 1614 and closed in 1642.

(3) A modern reconstruction of the original Globe, named "Shakespeare's Globe Theatre" or the "New Globe Theatre" which opened in 1997.

Two of the six original Globe shareholders, Richard Burbage and his brother Cuthbert Burbage, owned twenty five percent each; the other four John Heminges, Augustine Phillips, and Thomas Pope and Shakespeare owned the rest of the theatre equally (holding a single share). These initial proportions changed over time, as new shareholders’ were added, Shakespeare’s personal share diminished to 7%.

The Globe was built in 1599 using timber from an earlier theatre, built by Richard Burbage's father, James Burbage, in Shoreditch in 1576. The Burbages had a 21-year lease and then they dismantled The Theatre beam by beam and transported it over the Thames to reconstruct it as The Globe.

On June 29, 1613, the Globe Theatre burnt down during a performance of Henry the Eighth because the theatrical cannon, misfired, igniting the wooden beams and thatching. A contemporary copy of the event records no one was hurt except a man who extinguished his burning breeches with ale. Like all theatres in London, the Globe was closed down by the Puritans in 1642 and was destroyed two years later.

Its exact location remained unknown until remnants of its foundations were discovered in 1989 beneath a car park. The shape of the original foundations are replicated in the surface of the car park. There may be further remains beneath Anchor Terrace, but the 18th century terrace is a listed building and therefore cannot be excavated.

The evidence suggests that the original Globe it was a three storey building, with an open air amphitheatre, between 97 and 102 feet in diameter, and a capacity of 3,000. Wenceslas Hollar's sketch makes the theatre round, but the uncovering of a small part of the Globe's foundation suggested that it was a polygon of between eighteen and twenty sides. The rectangular apron stage measured approximately 43 feet in width, 27 feet in depth and was raised about 5 feet off the ground.

The back wall of the stage had at least two on the main level, with a curtained inner stage in the centre and a balcony above it. The doors entered into the "tiring house" or the backstage area which the actors used to change. The balcony housed the musicians and could double up for famous scenes such as the balcony scene in Romeo and Juliet.

The modern Globe opened in 1997 under the name "Shakespeare's Globe Theatre" and now stages plays every summer from May to October.

The new theatre was the first thatched roof building permitted in London since the Great Fire of London in 1666. The only covered parts of the amphitheatre are the stage and the more expensive seated areas. Standing room is provided at £5 a performance. The modern Globe replicates as closely as possible the Tudor Globe but of course, there are some mod cons such as electric lights as well as sprinklers in the thatched roof.