Shakespeare's Globe is a reconstruction of the

Globe Theatre The Globe Theatre was a Theater (structure), theatre in London associated with William Shakespeare. It was built in 1599 at Southwark, close to the south bank of the Thames, by Shakespeare's playing company, the Lord Chamberlain's Men. It was ...

, an Elizabethan playhouse first built in 1599 for which

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

wrote his plays. Like the original, it is located on the south bank of the

River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, s ...

, in

Southwark Southwark ( ) is a district of Central London situated on the south bank of the River Thames, forming the north-western part of the wider modern London Borough of Southwark. The district, which is the oldest part of South London, developed ...

, London. The reconstruction was completed in 1997 and while concentrating on Shakespeare's work also hosts a variety of other theatrical productions. Part of the Globe's complex also hosts the

Sam Wanamaker Playhouse The Sam Wanamaker Playhouse is an indoor theatre forming part of the Shakespeare's Globe complex, along with the recreated Globe Theatre on Bankside in Southwark, London. Built by making use of 17th-century plans for an indoor English theatre, ...

for smaller, indoor productions, in a setting which also recalls the period.

Background

The original globe theatre was built in 1599 by the Lord Chamberlain's Men, destroyed by a fire in 1613, rebuilt in 1614, and then demolished in 1644. The modern Globe Theatre is an academic approximation based on available evidence of the 1599 and 1614 buildings. It is considered quite realistic, though modern safety requirements mean that it accommodates only 1,400 spectators compared to the original theatre's 3,000. The modern ''Shakespeare's Globe'' was founded by the actor and director

Sam Wanamaker Samuel Wanamaker (born Samuel Wattenmacker; June 14, 1919 – December 18, 1993) was an American actor and director, whose career on stage and in film and television spanned five decades. He began his career on Broadway theatre, Broadway, but sp ...

, and built about from the site of the original theatre in the historic open-air style. It opened to the public in 1997, with a production of '' Henry V''. Michelle Terry currently serves as artistic director. She is the second actor-manager in charge of the organisation, following Mark Rylance, the founding artistic director. The site also includes the

, an indoor theatre which opened in January 2014. This is a smaller, candle-lit space based on historic plans for an indoor playhouse of

Jacobean era The Jacobean era was the period in English and Scotland, Scottish history that coincides with the reign of James VI and I, James VI of Scotland who also inherited the crown of England in 1603 as James I. The Jacobean era succeeds the Elizabeth ...

London (possibly

Blackfriars Theatre Blackfriars Theatre was the name given to two separate theatres located in the former Blackfriars Dominican priory in the City of London during the Renaissance. The first theatre began as a venue for the Children of the Chapel Royal, child ...

). The Shakespeare's Globe Studios, an educational and rehearsal studio complex, is situated just around the corner from the main site.

Planning and construction

In 1970, American actor and director

founded the Shakespeare Globe Trust and the International Shakespeare Globe Centre, with the objective of building a faithful recreation of Shakespeare's Globe close to its original location at

Bankside Bankside is an area of London, England, within the London Borough of Southwark. Bankside is located on the southern bank of the River Thames, east of Charing Cross, running from a little west of Blackfriars Bridge to just a short distance befo ...

, Southwark. This inspired the founding of a number of Shakespeare's Globe Centres around the world, an activity in which Wanamaker also participated. Many people maintained that a faithful Globe reconstruction was impossible to achieve due to the complications in the 16th-century design and modern fire safety requirements; however, Wanamaker and his associate Diana Devlin persevered in their vision for over 20 years to create the theatre. A new Globe theatre was eventually built according to a design based on the research of historical adviser John Orrell. It was Wanamaker's wish that the new building recreate the Globe as it existed during most of Shakespeare's time there; that is, the 1599 building rather than its 1614 replacement. A study was made of what was known of the construction of

The Theatre The Theatre was an Elizabethan playhouse in Shoreditch (in Curtain Road, part of the modern London Borough of Hackney), just outside the City of London. Built in 1576, after the Red Lion, it was the first permanent theatre built exclusiv ...

, the building from which the 1599 Globe obtained much of its timber, as a starting point for the modern building's design. To this were added: examinations of other surviving London buildings from the latter part of the 16th century; comparisons with other theatres of the period (particularly the

Fortune Playhouse The Fortune Playhouse was an historic theatre in London. It was located between Whitecross Street, London, Whitecross Street and the modern Golden Lane, London, Golden Lane, just outside the City of London. It was founded about 1600, and suppre ...

, for which the building contract survives); and contemporary drawings and descriptions of the first Globe. For practical reasons, some features of the 1614 rebuilding were incorporated into the modern design, such as the external staircases. The design team consisted of architect Theo Crosby of

Pentagram A pentagram (sometimes known as a pentalpha, pentangle, or star pentagon) is a regular five-pointed star polygon, formed from the diagonal line segments of a convex (or simple, or non-self-intersecting) regular pentagon. Drawing a circle around ...

, structural and services engineer Buro Happold, and quantity surveyors from Boyden & Co. The construction, building research and historic design details were undertaken by McCurdy & Co. In 1994, the name "Globe Theatre" was used by one of the theatres in Shaftesbury Avenue; to make the name available and to avoid confusion, that year it was renamed as the

Gielgud Theatre The Gielgud Theatre is a West End theatre, located on Shaftesbury Avenue, at the corner of Rupert Street, in the City of Westminster, London. The house currently has 994 seats on three levels. The theatre was designed by W. G. R. Sprague and ...

. The theatre opened in 1997 under the name "Shakespeare's Globe Theatre", and has staged plays every summer.

Personnel

Mark Rylance became the first

artistic director An artistic director is the executive of an arts organization, particularly in a theatre company or dance company, who handles the organization's artistic direction. They are generally a producer and director, but not in the sense of a mogu ...

in 1995 and was succeeded by

Dominic Dromgoole Dominic Charles Fleming Dromgoole (born 25 October 1963) is an English theatre director and writer about the theatre who has also worked in film. Early life and education Dominic Charles Fleming Dromgoole was born on 25 October 1963 in Bristo ...

in 2006. In January 2016, Emma Rice began her term as the Globe's third artistic director,BBC Radio 4
"New Globe director on changes to Shakespeare"
''Best of Today'', 5 January May 2016. but in October 2016 announced her decision to resign from the position. On 24 July 2017 her successor was announced to be the actor and writer Michelle Terry.

Location and features

The theatre is located on

, about from the original site—measured from centre to centre. Listed Georgian townhouses now occupy part of the original site and could not be considered for removal. Like the original Globe, the modern theatre has a

thrust stage In theatre, a thrust stage (a platform stage or open stage) is one that extends into the audience on three sides and is connected to the backstage area by its upstage end. A thrust has the benefit of greater intimacy between performers and the ...

that projects into a large circular yard surrounded by three tiers of raked seating. The only covered parts of the amphitheatre are the stage and the seating areas. The reconstruction was carefully researched so that the new building would be as faithful a replica of the original as possible. This was aided by the discovery of the remains of the original Rose Theatre, a nearby neighbour to the Globe, as final plans were being made for the site and structure. The building itself is constructed entirely of English oak, with

mortise and tenon A mortise and tenon (occasionally mortice and tenon) is a Woodworking joints, joint that connects two pieces of wood or other material. Woodworking, Woodworkers around the world have used it for thousands of years to join pieces of wood, mainly ...

joints and is, in this sense, an "authentic" 16th-century timber-framed building as no structural steel was used. The seats are simple benches (though cushions can be hired for performances) and the Globe has what has been claimed to be the first and only thatched roof permitted in London since the

Great Fire of London The Great Fire of London was a major conflagration that swept through central London from Sunday 2 September to Wednesday 5 September 1666, gutting the medieval City of London inside the old London Wall, Roman city wall, while also extendi ...

in 1666. The modern thatch is well protected by fire retardants, and sprinklers on the roof ensure further protection against fire. The pit has a concrete surface, as opposed to earthen-ground covered with strewn rush from the original theatre. The theatre has extensive backstage support areas for actors and musicians, and is attached to a modern lobby, restaurant, gift shop and visitor centre. Seating capacity is 873 with an additional 700 " Groundlings" standing in the yard, making up an audience about half the size of a typical audience in Shakespeare's time.

Productions

Plays are staged during the summer, usually between May and the first week of October; in the winter, the theatre is used for educational purposes. Tours are available all year round. Some productions are filmed and released to cinemas as Globe on Screen productions (usually in the year following the live production), and on DVD and Blu-ray. For its first 18 seasons, performances were engineered to duplicate the original environment of Shakespeare's Globe; there were no spotlights, and plays were staged during daylight hours and in the evenings (with the help of interior floodlights), there were no microphones, speakers or amplification. All music was performed live, most often on period instruments; and the actors and the audience could see and interact easily with each other, adding to the feeling of a shared experience and of a community event. Typically, performances have been created in the spirit of experimentation to explore the original playing conditions of the 1599 Globe. Modern and conventional theatre technology such as spotlights and microphones were not used during this period. Beginning in the 2016 season, the new artistic director, Emma Rice, began experimenting with the theatre space by installing a temporary lighting and sound rig. The current artistic director, Michelle Terry, has brought back the original playing conditions. The Globe operates without any public subsidy and generates £24 million in revenue per year. Acting and design students from the

Mason Gross School of the Arts Mason Gross School of the Arts ("Mason Gross" or "MGSA") is the arts conservatory at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey. Mason Gross offers undergraduate and graduate degrees in art, design, dance, filmmaking, music, and theater. Ma ...

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

Rutgers University Rutgers University ( ), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of three campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's C ...

study abroad at the theater as part of the Rutgers Conservatory at Shakespeare's Globe, a longstanding partnership between the institutions.

Sam Wanamaker Playhouse

Adjacent to the Globe is the

, an indoor theatre modelled after a Jacobean-era theatre and used for performances during the winter months when the main theatre cannot be used.

''Read Not Dead''

''Read Not Dead'' is a series of play readings, or staged "performances with scripts" that have been presented as part of the educational programme of Shakespeare's Globe since 1995. The plays selected are those that were written between 1576 and 1642 by Shakespeare's contemporaries or near contemporaries. These readings are performed at Shakespeare's Globe Studios as well as other theatres, halls, festivals and fields nationwide.Read Not Dead
Shakespeare's Globe. Archived 23 June 2013. In 2013, there were ''Read Not Dead'' performances at the Wilderness Festival and at the

Glastonbury Festival The Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts (commonly referred to as simply Glastonbury Festival, known colloquially as Glasto) is a five-day festival of contemporary performing arts held near Pilton, Somerset, England, in most su ...

.Read Not Dead On The Road
Shakespeare's Globe. Archived 30 May 2014. In 2014, the final production of ''Read Not Dead's'' first season was performed at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, which is the indoor Jacobean-style theatre. The play selected for that occasion was Robert Daborne's '' A Christian Turn'd Turk''.

''Globe on Screen''

The Globe's productions are often screened in cinemas and released on DVD and Blu-ray. In 2015, the venue launched Globe Player, a video-on-demand service enabling viewers to watch the plays on laptops and mobile devices. The theatre was the first in the world to make its plays available as video-on-demand.

Other replicas

Replicas and free interpretations of the Globe have been built around the world: ; Argentina *

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

: Teatro Shakespeare.

; Germany * Neuss am Rhein: Globe Neuss * Rust, Baden, Germany: in the Europa-Park * Schwäbisch Hall, Baden-Württemberg: houses a replica of the interior of the Globe Theatre. ; Italy *

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

: Globe Theatre TeatroaVilla Borghese2

; Japan *

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

: Panasonic Globe Theatre *

: Meisei University's Shakespeare Hall, at its Hino campus ; New Zealand *

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

: Pop-up Globe ; United States *

Ashland, Oregon Ashland is a city in Jackson County, Oregon, United States. It lies along Interstate 5 in Oregon, Interstate 5 approximately 16 miles (26 km) north of the California border and near the south end of the Rogue Valley. The city's population w ...

: Allen Elizabethan Theatre *

Austin, Texas Austin ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Texas. It is the county seat and most populous city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and W ...

: Curtain Theatre *

Cedar City, Utah Cedar City is the largest city in Iron County, Utah, United States. Located south of Salt Lake City, it is north of Las Vegas on Interstate 15 in Utah, Interstate 15. Southern Utah University is located in Cedar City. It is the home of the Ut ...

: Adams Shakespearean Theatre *

Dallas, Texas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

: Old Globe Theatre *

Odessa, Texas Odessa () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Ector County, Texas, Ector County with portions extending into Midland County, Texas, Midland County. Odessa's population was 114,428 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 ...

: Globe of the Great Southwest *

San Diego, California San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

: Old Globe Theatre *

Williamsburg, Virginia Williamsburg is an Independent city (United States), independent city in Virginia, United States. It had a population of 15,425 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Located on the Virginia Peninsula, Williamsburg is in the northern par ...

: Globe Theatre, in Busch Gardens Williamsburg * Twin Lake, Michigan: Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp, The Rose Playhouse. *

Hempstead, New York The Town of Hempstead is the largest of the three towns in Nassau County (alongside North Hempstead and Oyster Bay) on Long Island, in New York, United States. The town's combined population was 793,409 at the 2020 census. It occupies the s ...

Hofstra University Hofstra University is a Private university, private research university in Hempstead, New York, United States. It originated in 1935 as an extension of New York University and became an independent college in 1939. Comprising ten schools, includ ...

, Pop-up Globe

Notes

External links

Shakespeare's Globe

Shakespeare's Globe pre-theatre drinks and bar restaurant

Shakespeare's Globe at Google Cultural Institute

''Plays performed at the reconstructed Globe (by season)''
(Shakespeare's Globe)
April 2012 BBC Radio 4 ''The Reunion'' programme about the building of Shakespeare's Globe

The Story of the New Globe Theatre By Zachary T. Oser
Satellite photo of the rebuilt Globe Theatre

Rose Theatre Website

Entertainment at The Globe in Shakespeare's time

3D Model of Globe Theatre done by Wesleyan University's Learning Objects Studio

Doctor Who Episode guide for 'The Shakespeare Code'

Teatro Shakespeare Buenos Aires
(Mobile construction that evokes an Elizabethan Theatre) {{Authority control Buildings and structures completed in 1997 Theatres in the London Borough of Southwark Rotundas in the United Kingdom Theatres completed in 1997 Outdoor theatres Rebuilt buildings and structures in the United Kingdom Producing house theatres in London Buildings and structures on the River Thames Museums in the London Borough of Southwark Theatre museums Literary museums in London Museums on the River Thames Thatched buildings in England 1997 establishments in England Replica buildings Timber framed buildings in London Renaissance reenactment Memorials to William Shakespeare