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Globe Theatre

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This article is about the Globe Theatre of Shakespeare. For the modern reconstruction in London, see Shakespeare's Globe. For other uses, see Globe Theatre (disambiguation).
The Globe Theatre
The second Globe, preliminary sketch (c. 1638) for Hollar's 1647 Long View of London.[1]
Map
AddressMaiden Lane (now Park Street) Southwark[2][3]
London
England
OwnerLord Chamberlain's Men
DesignationDemolished
TypeElizabethan theatre
Capacity3,000–seated and standing
Construction
Opened1599
Closed1642
Rebuilt1614
ArchitectPeter Street (carpenter)

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.[4] A second Globe Theatre was built on the same site by June 1614 and closed in 1642.[5]

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.[6]

Location

Examination of old property records has identified the plot of land occupied by the Globe as extending from the west side of modern-day Southwark Bridge Road eastwards as far as Porter Street and from Park Street southwards as far as the back of Gatehouse Square.[2] The precise location of the building however, remained unknown until a small part of the foundations, including one original pier base, was discovered in 1989 beneath the car park at the rear of Anchor Terrace on Park Street.[7] The shape of the foundations is now replicated on the surface. As the majority of the foundations lie beneath 67—70 Anchor Terrace, a listed building, no further excavations have been permitted.[8]

History

Layout

The Globe's actual dimensions are unknown, but its shape and size can be approximated from scholarly inquiry over the last two centuries.[9] The evidence suggests that it was a three-storey, open-air amphitheatre approximately 100 feet (30 m) in diameter that could house up to 3,000 spectators.[10] The Globe is shown as round on Wenceslas Hollar's sketch of the building, later incorporated into his engraved "Long View" of London in 1647. However, in 1988–89, the uncovering of a small part of the Globe's foundation suggested that it was a polygon of 20 sides.[2][11]

At the base of the stage, there was an area called the pit,[12] (or, harking back to the old inn-yards, yard)[13] where, for a penny, people (the "groundlings") would stand on the rush-strewn earthen floor to watch the performance.[14] During the excavation of the Globe in 1989 a layer of nutshells was found, pressed into the dirt flooring so as to form a new surface layer.[7] Vertically around the yard were three levels of stadium-style seats, which were more expensive than standing room. A rectangular stage platform, also known as an 'apron stage', thrust out into the middle of the open-air yard. The stage measured approximately 43 feet (13.1 m) in width, 27 feet (8.2 m) in depth and was raised about 5 feet (1.5 m) off the ground. On this stage, there was a trap door for use by performers to enter from the "cellarage" area beneath the stage.[15]

The back wall of the stage had two or three doors on the main level, with a curtained inner stage in the centre (although not all scholars agree about the existence of this supposed "inner below"),[16] and a balcony above it. The doors entered into the "tiring house"[17](backstage area) where the actors dressed and awaited their entrances. The floors above may have been used to store costumes and props and as management offices.[18] The balcony housed the musicians and could also be used for scenes requiring an upper space, such as the balcony scene in Romeo and Juliet. Rush matting covered the stage, although this may only have been used if the setting of the play demanded it.[19]

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.[2] A trap door in the heavens enabled performers to descend using some form of rope and harness.

Motto

The name of the Globe supposedly alludes to the Latin tag totus mundus agit histrionem—all the world plays the actor—in turn derived from quod fere totus mundus exerceat histrionem—because almost the whole world are players—from Petronius, which had wide circulation in England in the Burbages' time. Totus mundus agit histrionem was, according to this explanation, therefore adopted as the theatre's motto. It seems likely, however, that the link between the saying and the Globe was made only later, originating with the industrious early Shakespeare biographer William Oldys, who claimed as his source a private manuscript to which he once had access. This was repeated in good faith by his literary executor George Steevens, but the tale is now thought "suspicious".[20][21]

Notes

  1. ^ Cooper, Tarnya (ed.). "A view from St Mary Overy, Southwark, looking towards Westminster, c.1638". Searching for Shakespeare. London: National Portrait Gallery. pp. 92–93. ISBN 9780300116113.
  2. ^ a b c d Mulryne, J R (1997). Shakespeare’s Globe Rebuilt. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521599881. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  3. ^ Wilson, Ian (1993). Shakespeare the Evidence. London: Headline. xiii. ISBN 0747205825. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |nopp= ignored (|no-pp= suggested) (help)
  4. ^ Nagler 1958, p. 8.
  5. ^ Encyclopædia Britannica 1998 edition.
  6. ^ Measured using Google earth
  7. ^ a b Simon McCudden 'The Discovery of The Globe
  8. ^ Bowsher and Miller (2010: 4)
  9. ^ Egan, Gabriel (1999). "Reconstructions of The Globe: A Retrospective" (PDF). Shakespeare Survey. 52 (1): 1–16. ISBN 0521660742. Retrieved 25 July 2007.
  10. ^ Orrell, John (1989). "Reconstructing Shakespeare's Globe". History Trails. University of Alberta. Retrieved 10 December 2007.
  11. ^ Egan, Gabriel (2004). "The 1599 Globe and its modern replica: Virtual Reality modelling of the archaeological and pictorial evidence". Early Modern Literary Studies. 13: 5.1–22. ISSN 1201-2459. Retrieved 25 July 2007.
  12. ^ Britannica Student: The Theater past to present > Shakespeare and the Elizabethan Theater
  13. ^ Dekker, Thomas (1609), reprinted 1907, ISBN 0781271991. The Gull’s Hornbook: “the stage...will bring you to most perfect light... though the scarecrows in the yard hoot at you”.
  14. ^ Dekker (1609)
  15. ^ Nagler 1958, pp. 23–24.
  16. ^ Kuritz, Paul (1988). The making of theatre history. Englewood Cliffs, N.J: Prentice Hall. pp. 189–191. ISBN 0-13-547861-8.
  17. ^ from attiring—dressing: "tiring, n.3". Oxford English Dictionary (2 ed.). Oxford, England: Oxford University Press. 1989.
  18. ^ Bowsher and Miller (2010: 136–137)
  19. ^ Cite error: The named reference wotton was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  20. ^ Ingleby, Clement Mansfield; Toulmin Smith, Lucy; Furnival, Frederick (1909). Monro, John (ed.). The Shakespere allusion-book : a collection of allusions to Shakespere from 1591 to 1700. Vol. 2. London: Chatto and Windus. p. 373. OCLC 603995070.
  21. ^ Stern, Tiffany (1997). "Was 'Totus mundus agit histrionem' ever the motto of the Globe Theatre?". Theatre Notebook. 51 (3). The Society for Theatre Research: 121. ISSN 0040-5523.

References

  • Bowsher, Julian; Miller, Pat (2010). The Rose and the Globe – playhouses of Shakespeare's Bankside, Southwark. Museum of London. ISBN 978-1-901992-85-4. {{cite book}}: templatestyles stripmarker in |author= at position 1 (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  • Gurr, Andrew (1991). The Shakespearean Stage 1574–1642. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Press. ISBN 052142240X. {{cite book}}: templatestyles stripmarker in |author= at position 1 (help)CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  • Nagler, A.M. (1958). Shakespeare's Stage. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. ISBN 0300026897. {{cite book}}: templatestyles stripmarker in |author= at position 1 (help)CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  • Schoenbaum, Samuel (1991). Shakespeare's Lives. Oxford: Clarendon Press. ISBN 0198186185. {{cite book}}: templatestyles stripmarker in |author= at position 1 (help)CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)

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