November 2011 – The Globe Theatre

The Globe Theatre was a theatre in London associated with William Shakespeare. It was built in 1599 by Shakespeare's playing company, the Lord Chamberlain’s Men, and was destroyed by fire on 29 June 1613. A second Globe Theatre was built on the same site by June 1614 and closed in 1642.

A modern reconstruction of the Globe, named "Shakespeare’s Globe”, opened in 1997 approximately 750 feet (230 m) from the site of the original theatre. This modern reconstruction is an academic best guess, based on available evidence of the 1599 and 1614 buildings.

Like the original Globe, the modern theatre has a thrust stage that projects into a large circular yard surrounded by three tiers of raked seating. The only covered parts of the amphitheatre are the stage and the seating areas. Plays are staged during the summer, usually between May and the first week of October; in the winter, the theatre is used for educational purposes. 

The reconstruction was carefully researched so that the new building would be as faithful a replica of the original as possible. Performances are engineered to duplicate the original environment of Shakespeare's Globe; there are no spotlights, plays are staged during daylight hours and in the evenings (with the help of interior floodlights), there are no microphones, speakers or amplification. All music is performed live on period instruments; the actors can see the audience and the audience can see each other, adding to the feeling of a shared experience and community event.

 The building itself is constructed entirely of English oak - no structural steel was used. It is, in this sense, an "authentic" 16th century timber-framed building. The seats are simple benches (though cushions can be hired for performances) and the Globe has the first and only thatched roof permitted in London since the Great Fire of 1666.

The pit, however, has a concrete surface as opposed to the earthen ground covered with strewn rush in the original theatre. Large columns on either side of the stage supported a roof over the rear portion of the stage. The ceiling under this roof was called the "heavens," and was painted with clouds and the sky. A trap door in the heavens enabled performers to descend using some form of rope and harness.