Shakespeare’s Globe

Shakespeare’s Globe is a reconstruction of the Globe Theater, an Elizabethan playhouse associated with William Shakespeare. The original theater was built in 1599, destroyed by fire in 1613, rebuilt in 1614, and then demolished in 1644.

The modern Globe Theater reconstruction is an approximation based on available evidence of the 1599 and 1614 buildings.  The current theater is located about 230 meters (750 ft) from the original site, measured from center to center.

Shakespeare’s Globe was built close to the site of the original theater and opened to the public in 1997. There is also an exhibition about Shakespeare’s life and work.

Replicas and free interpretations of the Globe have been built around the world; however, this is the closest to the original location where William Shakespeare’s plays were first presented.

The Thames was much broader in Shakespeare’s time, and the original Globe was on the riverbank. However, that site is now far from the river, and the river-side location for the reconstructed Globe was chosen to recreate the atmosphere of the original theater.

Like the original Globe, the modern theater has a thrust stage that projects into a large circular yard surrounded by three tiers of raked seating.

The only covered parts of the theater are the stage and the seating areas. Plays are staged during the summer, usually between May and October. Tours are available all year round.

The audience in Shakespeare’s Globe watching a performance of King Lear

Highlights of the Shakespeare’s Globe

• The building is constructed entirely of English oak, with mortise and tenon joints; it is an “authentic” 16th-century timber-framed building as no structural steel was used
• The seats are simple benches with a seating capacity of 873 with an additional 700 “Groundlings” standing in the yard, making up an audience of about half the size of a typical audience in Shakespeare’s time
• The Globe has the first and only thatched roof permitted in London since the Great Fire of 1666.
• All music was performed live, most often on period instruments
• The actors and the audience can see and interact easily with each other, adding to the feeling of shared experience 
• An exhibit of period costumes artifacts and staging
• An exhibition of Shakespeare’s Globe history and legacy

A performance of Love’s Labour’s Lost at the Globe Theatre