Globe Theatre

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Dadragonsrul (talk | contribs) at 00:19, 23 February 2007. The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

51°30′29″N 0°5′50″W / 51.50806°N 0.09722°W / 51.50806; -0.09722

This article is about the Globe Theatre of Shakespeare, both the original and its modern reconstruction. For other Globe theatres, see Globe Theatre (disambiguation).
The modern reconstruction of the Globe Theatre, in London.

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

  1. The original Globe Theatre, built in 1599 by the playing company to which Shakespeare belonged, and destroyed by fire on June 29, 1613.[1]
  2. The Globe Theatre was rebuilt by June, 1614 and closed in 1642.
  3. A modern reconstruction of the original Globe, named "Shakespeare's Globe Theatre", opened in 1997.

The original Globe

LOLOLOLWTFYOUNOOBThe original Globe was an Elizabethan theatre which opened in Autumn 1599[2] in Southwark, on the south bank of the Thames, in an area now known as Bankside. It was one of several major theatres that were located in the area, the others being the Swan, the Rose and The Hope. The Globe was the principal playhouse of the Lord Chamberlain's Men (who would become the King's Men in 1603). Most of Shakespeare's post-1599 plays were originally staged at the Globe, including Julius Caesar, Macbeth, Othello, King Lear and Hamlet. The Globe was owned by a consortium of actors, who (except for one) were also shareholders in the Lord Chamberlain's Men. Two of the six Globe shareholders, Richard Burbage and his brother Cuthbert Burbage, owned double shares of the whole, or 25% each; the other four men, Shakespeare, John Heminges, Augustine Phillips, and Thomas Pope, owned a single share, or 12.5 %. (Originally William Kempe was intended to be the seventh partner, but he sold out his share to the four minority sharers, leaving them with more than the originally planned 10 %.) These initial proportions changed over time, as new sharers were added. Shakespeare's share diminished from 1/8 to 1/14, or roughly 7 %, over the course of his career.[3]

The Globe was built in 1599 using timber from an earlier theatre, The Theatre, that had been built by Richard Burbage's father, James Burbage, in Shoreditch in 1576. The Burbages originally had a 20-year lease of the site on which the Theatre was built. When the lease ran out, they dismantled The Theatre beam by beam and transported it over the Thames to reconstruct it as The Globe.[citation needed]

On June 29, 1613, the Globe Theatre went up in flames during the first performance of Henry the Eighth. A theatrical cannon, set off during the performance, misfired, igniting the wooden beams and thatching. No one was hurt except, according to one of the few surviving documents of the event, for a man who put out his breeches with a bottle of ale.[4]

Like all the other theatres in London, the Globe was closed down by the Puritans in 1642. It was destroyed in 1644 to make room for tenements. Its exact location remained unknown until remnants of its foundations were discovered in 1989 beneath Anchor Terrace on Park Street. There may be further remains beneath Anchor Terrace, but the 18th century terrace is listed and may not be disturbed by archaeologists.[citation needed]

Layout of the Globe

The Globe's shape and size have been pieced together by scholarly inquiry over the last two centuries. The evidence suggests that it was a three-story, 100-foot wide, open-air amphitheatre that could house around 3,000 spectators. The Globe is shown as a round building on a contemporary engraving of London. On this basis, some assume the building was circular, while others favor an octagonal shape. Archaeological evidence suggests the playhouse had twenty sides.[citation needed]

At the base of the stage, there was an area called the "pit,"[citation needed] where people (the "groundlings") would stand to watch the performance. To sit in these pits would cost a penny. "Groundlings" would stand and eat nuts during performances; during the renovation of the Globe nutshells were found, preserved in the dirt.[citation needed] Around the yard were three levels of seating, which were more expensive than standing: the first two were called the Twopenny Rooms and the top level was called the Penny Gallery.

The stage of the modern Globe Theatre.

A rectangular stage platform thrust out into the middle of the open-air yard. The stage measured about 43 feet in width, 27 feet in depth and was raised about 5 feet off the ground. On this stage, there was a trap door for use by performers to enter from beneath the stage; the area beneath the stage was known as the "cellarage." There may have been as many as four smaller trap doors around the stage.[5] Often the area beneath the stage is also called "hell," since supernatural beings (such as the ghost in Hamlet) enter and exit the stage from this area.

Large columns on either side of the stage supported a roof over the rear portion of the stage. This ceiling was called the "heavens," and was probably painted with images of the sky.[citation needed] A trap door in the heavens enabled performers to "fly" or descend using some form of rope and harness.

The back wall of the stage consisted of three doors on the first floor and a balcony on the second. The doors entered into the "tiring house" (backstage area) where the actors dressed and awaited their entrances. The balcony housed the musicians and could also be used for scenes requiring an upper space, such as the balcony scene in Romeo and Juliet. In addition, it could be used as the "Lord's Room," where higher-paying audience members could pay to be seated – more to be seen than to see the play, since they would have been behind the performers.[citation needed]

The dimensions of the original Globe: [6]

  • Diameter: 100 ft. surface to surface / 99 ft. centre to centre
  • Yard: 70 ft. between post centres / 69 ft. surface to surface
  • Stage: 49 ft. 6 in. across
  • Stage height: 5 ft.
  • Gallery Depth: 15 ft. 6 in. overall / 15 ft. 6 in. between post centres
  • Overall height: 36 ft. 6 in.
  • Overall heights from floor to floor: 15 ft. 6 in., 11 ft. 3 in. and 9 ft. 9 in. to the plates.
  • Balcony floor: 18 ft. 6 in. above the yard, 13 ft. 6 in. above stage
  • Frons Scenae doors: 11 ft. tall
  • Heavens ceiling height: 26 ft. 9 in. (to the height of the upper gallery floor)

The modern Globe

The rebuilt Globe Theatre.

At the instigation of Sam Wanamaker, a new Globe theatre was built according to an Elizabethan plan. The structural design was carried out by Theo Crosby with Pentagram as the architects. It opened in 1994 under the name "Shakespeare's Globe Theatre" and now stages plays every summer (May to October). Mark Rylance was appointed as the first artistic director of the modern Globe in 1995. After 10 years, Dominic Dromgoole took over in 2006.[citation needed]

The new theatre is 200 yards from the original site, and was the first thatched roof building permitted in London since the Great Fire of London in 1666.[citation needed]

As in the original Globe, both the stage and the audience are outdoors. Plays are put on during the summer; in the winter, the theatre is used for educational purposes, and tours are available.

Although the reconstruction was carefully researched, the original plan was modified by the addition of sprinklers on the roof to protect against fire, and the theatre is partly joined onto a modern lobby and visitors centre. In addition, only 1,500 people may be housed during a show,[citation needed] unlike the 3,000 of Shakespeare's time (Elizabethans were less concerned about their personal space than modern theatregoers).

The Globe Theatre has a gate decorated with animals and fish, though it is not in use everyday.

Replicas

Globe-Theater, Schwäbisch Hall, Baden, Germany

A number of replicas of the Globe have been built around the world:

Replica of similar Elizabethan theatre:

  • Waseda University Tsubouchi Shoyo Memorial Library Theatre (a replica of The Fortune Theatre), built early 1900s

Notes

  1. ^ Nagler 1958, p. 8
  2. ^ Nagler 1958, p. 7
  3. ^ Schoenbaum, pp. 648-9.
  4. ^ Globe Theatre Fire
  5. ^ Nagler 1958, pp. 23-24
  6. ^ Orrell, John, The Quest for Shakespeare's Globe.
  7. ^ The Old Globe, San Diego
  8. ^ Chicago Shakespeare Theatre
  9. ^ Further Replicas (in German)
  10. ^ Schwäbisch Hall, Free Light Shows (in German)
  11. ^ The Globe Theatre in Prague - More Information about the Disaster

References

  • Nagler, A.M. (1958). Shakespeare's Stage. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. ISBN 0300026897. {{cite book}}: templatestyles stripmarker in |author= at position 1 (help)CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  • Schoenbaum, Samuel (1991). Shakespeare's Lives. Oxford: Clarendon Press. ISBN 0198186185. {{cite book}}: templatestyles stripmarker in |author= at position 1 (help)CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)

External links

Literature

  • Day, Barry: This Wooden 'O': Shakespeare's Globe Reborn. Oberon Books, London, 1997. ISBN 1-870259-99-8.
  • Rylance, Mark: Play: A Recollection in Pictures and Words of the First Five Years of Play at Shakespeares's Globe Theatre. Photogr.: Sheila Burnett, Donald Cooper, Richard Kolina, John Tramper. Shakespeare's Globe Publ., London, 2003. ISBN 0-9536480-4-4.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Globe_Theatre&oldid=110198919"