The Globe Theatre
Kayla Haruka Sledge Period 1 4/23/07
Do you know the history of the Globe Theatre? No you say?! Then you must know its structure down to the last nail. Am I right? Of cour pardon me? You say you do NOT?! You must be out of your mind! What have you been doing all your life to not know anything about the most magnificent structure in the world! You MUST read this. I insist. It is the history and structure of the Globe Theatre all in a nutshell. The original Globe Theatre was built in 1599 by Cuthbert Burbage, the brother of the most famous Shakespearean actors of the Elizabethan Age, Richard Burbage. Cuthbert Burbage inherited a London theater, the Theatre, which was the first of its kind. He owned the Theatre, but the lease of the land in which the Theatre was erected on expired. Their landlord, Giles Allen, wanted to tear the Theatre down. Cuthbert tried to renegotiate the Theatre lease with Giles Allen, but he vowed to put the wood and timber of the building to better use. When Allen left to the countryside, the members of the company resembled the Theatre, and constructed the Globe across the Thames in Bankside. In 1613, the Globe was burned to the ground when a cannon misfired during the performance of Henry VIII. The company later completed a new Globe on the foundation of the original Globe. It continued operating until 1642, when the puritans shut them, and all of the other theaters down. Two years later, the puritans razed the building to build tenements on the premises. The Globe Theatre remained ghost for the next 352 years, until its foundation was rediscovered in 1989. In 1993, they started the construction of a new Globe close to where the original had been. It was completed in 1996, and Queen Elizabeth II officially opened the new GLOBE Theatre on June 12, 1997. It is still being used today, in Bankside, London. Did you know that the Globe Theatre first made in 1599 was threestories high? It was an amphitheatre about one hundred feet wide that had a total capacity of about two thousand to three thousand people! Now that is a lot of people. The stage itself was a rectangular level platform five feet above the ground, about forty-three feet in width and twenty-seven feet in depth. It is also known as an apron stage, which is a stage that extends into the audience on three sides, and is connected to the backstage area by its end. The three sides surrounding it is called the pit, in which one-penny spectators stood. The two-penny viewers on the outer rim of the theatre were able to sit. They had a covering over their heads, while the stage and the pit did not. There was also a balcony house, where musicians would play, and could be used for the scenes that required a higher space. It was also used as the Lords Room, where higher paying audience members were seated. On the fourth side of the stage was an adjacent tiring house, where the actors and actresses changed their
costumes. It was capped by a small turret structure, where a trumpeter would announce the days performances. Because there wasnt any light, the shows had to change their schedule according to weather. Shows could only be held from about 2:00 PM-5:00PM when it was still bright. What was so unique about the Globe Theatre? Many things were anomalous about the Globe Theatre. First off, it was one of the first Elizabethan Theatres during the Reformation. Secondly, its stage was extremely unique. Though it was an apron stage, nothing different from the others, it had several diverse trap doors hidden in various places. These trap doors lead to the space underneath the floor, called hell. Another thing unique about the Globe Theatre is the performances. Maybe it was because they were performing plays written by one of the worlds greatest poets and writers, William Shakespeare, that it was completely different from the plays you may see today. Though costumes and props were correlated, the performances were totally devoid of background scenery. There were no curtains, no proscenium arch, and no stagehands that talked other than the actors and actresses themselves. Changes of scenes had to be indicated explicitly or implicitly in the speeches and narrative situations. Many stage players were vulnerable to being arrested on charges of vagrancy, the act of wandering around without visible means of support, unless they were under support of a powerful sponsor. Shakespeares company at the Globe Theatre, was put apart by virtue of formally being patronized by the Lord Chamberlain of Queen Elizabeth and by King James I himself. Incredible. To have support from royalty, Shakespeare and his company would be safe for life! See it was all in a nutshell. Did you learn anything? You did! Oh thats spectacular!! It was interesting wasnt it? Did you like it?. Thank you! I had a splendid time telling you about it. Now you should teach someone else all that youve learned. Remember to look at the pictures on the next page. They are beautiful. I hope one day we can go to see the real one.
Bibliography
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thrust_stage http://www.bardweb.net/globe.html http://www.enotes.com/william-shakespeare/shakespeares-globe-theater/
Extra Pictures
The newly made Globe Theatre today
A sketching of the original Globe Theatre (Notice the apron stage)
The stage of the Modern Globe Theatre (Notice the lords room in the back)
The inside of the modern Globe Theatre (Notice the two-penny seats and the pit)
