WS ABC Blog #74 The Newest Globe Theatre

                               Sam Wanamaker and friend.

In the 1950's the Hollywood blacklist against "UnAmerican" actors and directors caused many of them to leave the USA. One of the most famous was Charlie Chaplin. Another was Sam Wanamaker and this was very good news for England. Wanamaker had a passionate drive, some called it an obsession to recreate Shakespeare's Globe theatre in London.

In 1970, Wanamaker established the Shakespeare's Globe Trust and its aim was to rebuild the Globe theatre as close a copy as possible to the

Jacobethan playhouse. Many technical experts doubted if this was possible, but after overcoming mountains of technical and legal problems, very near to where the original playhouse stood 400 years ago, Shakespeare's Globe Theatre opened on the South Bank of the River Thames in May 1997. 

The first play to be performed was Henry the Fifth, and the first artistic director was the actor, Mark Rylance. Since then, Dominic Dromgoole and Emma Rice have succeeded him.

The building was made of English oak and mortice and tenon joints were used instead of nails and screws to join these huge wooden beams together. Unlike the original Globe, the wood has been impregnated with special material so that it will be inflammable and that the thatch roof - the first to be built in London since the Great Fire of 1666 - has also been rendered inflammable by the use of fire retardants. In addition, if you look up at the roof carefully, you will notice that fire sprinklers have been embedded in the thatch.

Thatch from Norfolk being made fireproof as it is laid on the roof of the Globe. Small fire sprinklers were added later.

Other differences between this Globe, the third, (the second lasted from 1614-1642 when it was pulled down by Cromwell's Puritan forces) is that the pit where the groundlings stand has a concrete surface, as opposed to the original rush-strewn earthen floor. Today, the Globe can hold up to 857 spectators, about half of the number who would have filled it in the Bard's day.

Other differences include a gift-shop, a restaurant and visitor centre. Perhaps the greatest differences between the Globe that WS knew and loved and today's theatre is that there are public toilets and that the price for tickets between the sixteenth century and today has jumped from one penny for the groundlings to five pounds for the honour of standing in the open pit. If you wish for greater comfort, you will have to pay45 pounds to sit in one of the surrounding and covered galleries. 

Author photo taken of "Henry V" during one of the first performances at the Globe in summer, 1997. 

At first, in 1997, the Globe did not use microphones, speakers or any form of amplification, but since 2016, experimental sound and lighting systems have been tried out. Fortunately, the Globe theatre today, as in WS's period, does fulfil a need, so much so that it is generating over twenty million pounds per year.

               The author outside the reconstructed Globe.

When because of its open-roof structure, the main theatre cannot be used during the winter, the adjacent Sam Wanamaker Playhouse is used instead. This is modelled after the 16th century indoors Blackfriars theatre, which in those days was candle-lit.

The Globe theatre in London is not unique. There are different Globe theatres in Argentina, Germany, Rome, Tokyo, New Zealand and six in the USA. However, Sam Wanamaker's looks the closest to the original. (Said by me who wasn't actually present as a spectator at the original!) However, I have been to the newest London Globe twice and watched performances of Henry the Fifth and Richard the Third.

A certificate of my own personal contribution to the reconstruction of Shakespeare's Globe theatre.

Note: If you want to know more about the modern Globe theatre, read This Wooden O by Barry Day.

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Next time: The playwright who made WS famous - Robert Greene. 

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