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The most famous Elizabethan playhouse was the Globe Theatre. The theatre was built between 1597 and 1599. Plays were only performed in summer and plays in the winter were performed in playhouses. |
Theatre then
It was built with reused timber and materials and built in a similar style to the Coliseum but smaller. The globe was built as a large, round, open-air theatre and had three stories of seating which was able to hold up 3000 people. The base of the theatre was called the groundlings or stinkards, which were people who paid just a penny to stand and watch the performance.
To know what type of play was to be performed, flags were up on the day of the performance, which at times had a picture. A black flag meant tragedy, white meant comedy and red a history. To indicate that a play was about to begin, a sound of a trumpet would then be played in order for people to take their places. |
Theatres now
Theatres in this modern day involves different advertising techniques such as posters, tv ads, etc. Advance technology is used for special effects and sounds and also advertising. The atmosphere of the theatres is silent, closed-up, dark and the audience is to give respect to the performers. Seating arrangement in the theatre differentiate from before because the closer you were to the stage, the higher the price was to sit there.
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Plays performed in the Globe Theatre |
-Julius Caesar, first know Shakespeare play to be performed in the Globe Theatre.
-Hamlet, 1600-1601 -Twelfth Night, 1601 -Richard II, February 7 1601 -Troilus and Cresssida, 1601-1602 -All’s Well That Ends Well, 1602 -Timon of Athens, 1604 -King Lear, 1605 -Macbeth, 1606 -Pericles, Prince of Tyre, 1607 -The Tempest, 1610 -The Two Noble Kinsmen, 1611 -Henry VIII, 1613 |
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History of the Globe Theatre |
What happened to the Globe Theatre |
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The Globe Theatre was the most magnificent theatre that London had ever seen. It didn’t just show plays, it was also for a gambling house and other immoral purposes. A carpenter called Peter Smith and his workers built the Globe Theatre. Including William Shakespeare, the acting troupe helped and contributed to get the Globe Theatre up as it was in their interest. The theatre was built in just six months and performances were opened in May 1599. It was James Burbage who discussed with Dr John Dee on the design and construction of the theatre.
James Burbage
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The original Globe Theatre burned down during a performance of Henry VIII when a canon shot burning it to the ground. After that before Shakespeare’s death, the company then completed a new Globe on the bases of its prototype. It remained effective until 1642, when the Puritans closed it down, and all the other theatres for that matter. The Globe then remained unseen for the next 352 years.
Globe Theatre now
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