Shakespeare's Globe

Infobox building|right
building_name=Shakespeare's Globe


building_type=Theatre
architectural_style=Replica Elizabethan
structural_system=
location=London, England
completion_date=1997
main_contractor=McCurdy & Co. Ltd.
architect=Pentagram
structural_engineer=Buro Happold
services_engineer=Buro Happold
quantity_surveyor=Boyden & Co
other_designers=McCurdy & Co. Ltd. (timber consultant)|

Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, which officially opened in 1997, is a reconstruction of The Globe Theatre, an Elizabethan playhouse in the London Borough of Southwark, on the south bank of the River Thames. It is approximately convert|230|m|ft from the site of the original theatre. [Measured using Google earth] . Jack Shepherd's lively 'Prologue Production' of "The Two Gentlemen of Verona" starring Mark Rylance as Proteus, opened the Globe to the theatregoing public in August 1996, a year before the formal opening Gala.

The original Globe

The original Globe Theatre was built in 1599 by the playing company, Lord Chamberlain's Men, to which Shakespeare belonged, and was destroyed by fire on June 29 1613 The fire was set by a cannon accident during a production of "Henry VIII". [Nagler 1958, p. 8.] The Globe Theatre was rebuilt by June 1614 (the exact opening date is not known by scholars). It was officially closed by order of the dominant Puritan religious faction in 1642 and demolished in 1644. [cite book
last = Gurr
first = Andrew
authorlink = Andrew Gurr
coauthors =
title = Encyclopædia Britannica: Globe Theatre
publisher =
date = 2008
location =
pages =
url =
doi =
id =
isbn = ]

History

In 1970 American actor and director Sam Wanamaker, founded the Shakespeare Globe Trust, and International Shakespeare Globe Centre with the objective of building a faithful recreation of Shakespeare’s Globe close to its original Bankside, Southwark location. While many had said that the Globe reconstruction was impossible to achieve, he persevered for over twenty years, and eventually a new Globe theatre was built according to a design based on the research of historical advisor John Orrell. [cite news
last =Martin
first =Douglas
coauthors =
title = John Orrell, 68, Historian On New Globe Theater, Dies
work =New York Times
pages =
language =
publisher =
date =2003-09-28
url =http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0DEFD6133DF93BA1575AC0A9659C8B63&n=Top/Reference/Times%20Topics/Subjects/D/Deaths%20(Obituaries)
accessdate =2007-12-11 ] The rest of the design team comprised Theo Crosby of Pentagram as the architect, Buro Happold as structural and services engineers and Boyden & Co as quantity surveyors. The construction was undertaken by McCurdy & Co [ [http://www.mccurdyco.com/globepm.html McCurdy & Co website] ] .

It opened in 1997 [ [http://www.shakespeares-globe.org/information/abouttheglobe/ Information about the Globe] .] 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. In 2006, Dominic Dromgoole took over. [cite web |url= http://www.shakespeares-globe.org/information/latestnews/20061030/3524/|title= Dominic Dromgoole appointed Artistic Director|accessdate=2007-03-19 |format= |work=The Shakespeare Globe Trust ]

The new theatre on Bankside is approximately 230 m (250 yd) from the original site, centre to centre, and was the first thatched roof building permitted in London since the Great Fire of London in 1666. [Staff. [http://uk.encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761560022/globe_theatre.html Globe Theatre] Encarta. Accessed 29 June 2008]

As in the original Globe, the theatre has a thrust stage that projects into a large circular yard surrounded by three tiers of steeply raked seating. The only covered parts of the amphitheatre are the stage and the (more expensive) seated areas. Plays are put on 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.

The reconstruction was carefully researched so that the new building would be as faithful a replica as possible. This was aided by the discovery of the original Globe Theatre as final plans were being made of the site. Modernizations include the addition of lights (plays in Shakespeare's time were held during the day), sprinklers on the roof to protect against fire, and the fact that the theatre is partly joined onto a modern lobby, visitors centre and additional backstage support areas. Seating capacity is 1,380, with a further 500 "groundlings" standing (and spectators must stand, as no sitting is allowed) in the pit, [cite web
last =
first =
authorlink =
coauthors =
title =Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, London
work =London's Theatres
publisher =thisistheatre.com
date =2007
url =http://www.thisistheatre.com/londontheatre/shakespearesglobetheatre.html
format =
doi =
accessdate = 2007-12-10 ] an audience about half the size of that in Shakespeare's time.

Other replicas

A number of replicas or free interpretations of the Globe have been built around the world:
*U.S.A.
** OSF Elizabethan Theatre, Ashland, Oregon, built in 1935, rebuilt 1947 and 1959
**San Diego, Old Globe Theatre, built in 1935 [ [http://www.theoldglobe.org/ The Old Globe, San Diego] .]
**Cedar City, Utah, Adams Shakespearean Theatre
** Dallas, Texas, Old Globe Theatre, built 1936 [Further Replicas (in German).]
** Odessa, Texas, [http://www.globesw.org/home.html The Globe Theatre Of The Great Southwest]
** Williamsburg, Virginia, Globe Theatre, built 1975 in the Banbury Cross section obo Gardens Europe [http://www.buschgardens.com/bgw/as_haunted_lighthouse.aspx]
**There is currently an effort to create a Globe Theatre in New York City. [ www.Broadway.TV article "Broadway To Get New Globe?" [http://www.broadway.tv/broadway-features-reviews/Broadway-To-Get-Shakespeare-Globe-Theater] ]
*Germany
**Neuss am Rhein, [http://www.neuss.de/neuss/english/culture/institutions/globe.html Globe Neuss] , built 1991
** Rust, Baden, Germany, Europa-Park, built 2000
**Schwäbisch Hall, Baden-Württemberg
*Italy
**Rome, [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3190268.stm Italy gets Globe Theatre replica] .] , built 2003
* Czech Republic
** Prague, built 1999, burned down in 2005 [ [http://www.theatre.cz/art/clanek.asp?id=9717 The Globe Theatre in Prague - More Information about the Disaster] .]
* Japan
** Tokyo, Isozakia Arata's Panasonic Globe Theatre in Tokyo, built 1988

Replica of similar Elizabethan theatre:
* Waseda University Tsubouchi Shoyo Memorial Library Theatre (a replica of The Fortune Theatre), built early 1900s

Notes

References

* Carson, Christie and Karim Cooper, Farah (Sept 2008) Shakespeare's Globe, A Theatrical Experiment, Cambridge University Press, UK, ISBN 9780521701662

* |authorlink= |year=1958 |title=Shakespeare's Stage |publisher=Yale University Press |location=New Haven, CT |id=ISBN 0300026897

* |authorlink=Samuel Schoenbaum |year=1991 |title=Shakespeare's Lives|publisher=Clarendon Press|location=Oxford|id=ISBN 0198186185

External links

* [http://www.cummingsstudyguides.net/xGlobe.html#Globe Globe Theatre Study Guide]
* [http://www.wpi.edu/Academics/Depts/HUA/TT/Globe/index.html Building a Piece of History] The Story of the New Globe Theatre By Zachary T. Oser
* [http://www.shakespeares-globe.org/ Shakespeare's Globe Theatre website]
* [http://www.nosweatshakespeare.com/resources/globe-theatre-entertainment.htm Entertainment at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre]
* [http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=51.508095,-0.096849&spn=0.001110,0.003404&t=k&hl=en Satellite photo of the rebuilt Globe Theatre]
* [http://www.rosetheatre.org.uk/ Rose Theatre Website]
* [http://learningobjects.wesleyan.edu/globe/ 3D Model of Globe Theatre done by Wesleyan University's Learning Objects Studio]
* [http://www.bardweb.net/globe.html Shakespeare's Globe at the Shakespeare Resource Center]
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/episodes/2007/302.shtml Doctor Who Episode guide for 'The Shakespeare Code']
* [http://www.britishtheatreguide.info/news/globe08.htm Shakespeare's Globe 2008 'Totus Mundus' season]

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.