Romeo+Juliet- Shakespeare in History Shakespeare’s Globe Student Sample Cassie Horn Fall 2009

The Globe Theatre The Globe is the theatre in London where most of Shakespeare’s plays were produced. The Globe has been burnt down, shut down, and rebuilt twice. Its motto: Totus mundus agit histrionem (The whole world is a playhouse)

Where in London is it?

Virtual Tour The Globe consists of the stage, backstage areas, and audience seating. Here is a virtual tour of the Globe stage as it exists today.

Shakespeare’s Globe Though Shakespeare performed at three different London theatres, the theatre he is most closely associated with is the Globe. Shakespeare was not only a playwright and actor, but also owned 12.5% of the theatre! As a partial owner, Shakespeare had the ability to produce as many of his plays as he wanted at the Globe!

The Opening of The Globe The Globe was opened in May of The Globe was built because the Lord Chamberlin’s men were kicked out of their old theatre, called the Theatre, by their Puritan landlord. – Puritans believed that acting was lying, so they tried to close all theatres, and succeeded for a while! The owners of the Theatre pooled their money, and reusing pieces of the Theatre built the Globe.

The Globe in Action The Globe hosted the Lord Chamberlin’s Men, who put up productions of many plays, including the first performances of most of the Shakespearean canon. Vendors made money by selling cushions for the audience and fruit for the audience to throw at the actors if they did not like their performance.

Seating Arrangements The Globe had seating for everyone: – Peasants, called the groundlings, stood at the floor level, crowded in. – For additional money, the middle class sat in the seats that surrounded the theatre. – Noblemen sat in the special box seats and even on the balcony, so the audience could see them and their reaction. – The audience and actors were all men- no women were allowed to see a play!

Fire! The Globe was burnt down during a performance of Henry VII on June 29, – The Globe had a cannon that they fired from “the heavens” (we’ll explain that later!) during performances. – The cannon hit the thatched roof, which then set the whole wooden structure on fire! The Globe was rebuilt, and opened again in 1614

The Globe Shut Down The Puritans, who caused the Globe to be built, also caused its demolition. – The Puritans gained control of the English government after the Civil War. – Puritans believed that theatre was a bad influence on people, so they banned all theatre productions in In 1644, the Globe was torn down, and despite the reopening of English theatre in 1660, the Globe was not reopened until 1997.

Stage Itself Shakespeare’s stage had all of the set elements the plays needed: – “The heavens” are the roof above the stage protecting the actors from the weather. The heavens had a space for actors to be lowered in from above the stage, as well as a hut that made most of the special effects, including cannon fire. – “The upper stage” refers to the balconies up above, divided into the Lord’s room and the Gentlemen’s rooms, where balcony and bedroom scenes were staged.

– “The tiring house” was the backstage area where actors changed costumes. – “The inner stage” was the space under the upper stage, where most indoor scenes were staged. – “The main stage” is the area where most action took place, with the pillars supporting the heavens being used for actors to hide behind. – “Hell” was the area under the stage, accessed by a trap door. Ghosts and witches entered from the trapdoor, so the audience understood their evil intent. globe.org/abouttheglobe/virtualtour/stage/

Modern Globe The Globe was rebuilt in 1993, after its original foundation was found in The Globe was rebuilt in the way scholars felt was most accurate, based on drawings and descriptions previously found. The New Globe now produces plays in the way the Old Globe did, predominantly featuring Shakespeare’s works!

Unit Question: Why was theatre created in Shakespeare’s time? The aim of theatre was to make money, but with the obstacles present, those involved in theatre had to have more at stake than that. I think theatre was created in Shakespeare’s time to tell stories, because the playwright was the most famous person and they changed the play they were doing as frequently as possible.

How can we apply this to our class? We can think about our class essential question (Why do people create theatre?) in terms of what happened in the past. By studying how Elizabethan theatre was produced, we can think about how it applies to us and how historically accurate to the playwright’s intent we want to be when we create scenes.

Here is a clip from Shakespeare in Love, showing how performances in the Globe were staged. (This is not historically accurate.)

Bibliography Globe Theatre Shakespeare shakespeare.htm shakespeare.htm Shakespeare’s Globe Shakespeare Resource Center Shakespeare’s Theatre obe obe