The Globe Theatre

Richard Burbage, his brother and a group of actors owned a theatre in the City

of London (north of the river Thames) in the late 16th

century. When they lost

their lease to the land on which it was built they dismantled the wooden

construction and took it to the South Bank and rebuilt it there.

With bear- and bull-baiting, prostitution and theatres the South Bank was the

pre-eminent entertainment area of London at the time. One reason was that the

owners wanted to escape the restrictions in the City of London (north of the

river).

As many people could neither read nor write, plays were announced by a

flag on the roof of the theatre (black flag = tragedy, white flag = comedy red,

flag = historic play). Before the start of the play in the afternoon trumpets

were sounded.

The theatres were a very popular form of entertainment. They were open

to anyone. The spectators had to pay one penny to stand in the yard

around the stage or two or more pence for a seat on the galleries.

Audiences were very rude compared to today. People shouted at the actors,

interrupted them, ate and drank and even threw things at them if they were

not satisfied.

The plays had to be written for all classes of society. There was fighting to

entertain the less educated people, there was poetry and romance for the

ladies, there were references to literature and mythology for the educated.

In 1613 the Globe burnt down during a performance when the thatched

roof caught fire. Fortunately nobody was hurt. It was soon rebuilt.

Performances continued until 1642 when the theatres in London were

closed by the Puritans. Two years later it was dismantled.

Hardly any props were used. The audience had to imagine the situation

and the texts had to give the people clues where a scene was set, eg. an

actor with a lamp in his hand meant that the scene was set at night.

The costumes were chosen for their symbolic meaning, not for their historic

accuracy A red coat was the garment of a king, a helmet was the sign of

soldier, but it could be a Roman helmet in a play about the Middle Ages.

The actors had to face a noisy crowd. They had to react to their shouting

and cheering.

The times were rough. The theatres had to compete with bear- and bull-

baiting, prostitution and even with public executions.

The Globe Theatre was a twenty-sided polygon, a "wooden O", which

means that only the stage and the galleries had a thatched roof. The centre

of the theatre, the yard, was open to rain, sunshine, wind and snow.

Women were not allowed to act on stage. The parts of the ladies had to be

played by boys.

Shakespeare was not only a playwright, he was also an actor and he owned shares in the Globe

Theatre.