A Theater in the Round

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The Globe

• A Theater in the Round

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• 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.

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• 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.

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• The Chamberlain's Company formed in 1594,
  actually built the Globe Theater. At the time, it
  was one of only two licensed acting companies in
  London.
• Among the eight actors in the group were
  Shakespeare and Richard Burbage. Of the eight,
  only six donated the funds used to build the
  theater.

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• The Chamberlain's Company later changed its name
  to the King's Company when James I took over the
  English throne.
• The Globe was the most important structure to
  Shakespeare's drama because most of his plays
  were written to be performed on the stage of the
  Globe.
• Romeo and Juliet was not one of them.

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• The Globe was obviously round in shape,
  containing 20 sides and three stories.
• Because the theater had no electricity, all
  performances were during the day to allow the sun
  to light the open air theater.

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• The flag on the top of the theater was raised on
  performance days, and the color of the flag was
  significant.
• Red history
• White Comedy
• Black Tragedy

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• The Globe enclosed an open courtyard, which
  theater-goers called The Pit.
• The patrons who sat here were fittingly called
  The Groundlings.
• More expensive seats, covered with a thatched
  roof, were called The Galleries.

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• The action took place on the main stage, which
  contained a trap door used for ghosts, demons, or
  even a grave in the famous scene from Hamlet.
• The back of the stage was called the inner stage,
  used mostly for indoor scenes. There was an
  inner below and an inner above.

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• In Shakespeares times no women were allowed to
  act, which is probably why there are more mens
  parts than womens in his plays.
• The productions did not have scenery and had very
  few props.

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The Globe Theater
1 FLAG 2 HEAVENS 3 HUT 4 INNER ABOVE 5
GALLERIES 6 MAIN STAGE 7 INNER BELOW 8 THE
PIT 9 COLUMN 10 TRAP DOOR 11 ENTRANCE 12
FOUNDATION
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• Tragically, the original Globe burned down in
  1613 due to a cannon shot used as a prop during a
  performance of Henry VIII.
• It was soon rebuilt, though, and remained open on
  its original foundations until the Puritans
  closed it in 1642 and the Globe II was torn down
  two years later to make room for housing.

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An Early 17th Century drawing of the Globe in the
time of Shakespeare
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1647 Illustration by Wenceslaus Hollar
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• The foundation remained buried until the
  mid-twentieth century.
• In 1949, an American actor named Sam Wanamaker
  realized the Globe no longer existed. He made it
  his lifes work to bring the Globe back to life.

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As it appears today
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