In a world without television, movies, or radio, plays were an important source of amusement. This was especially true in Shakespeare’s London. A day’s entertainment often began with… Bear-baiting : a bear would be captured and chained to a steak inside a pit. A pack of dogs would be released, and they would attack the bear. Spectators placed bets on who would die first. Then, another penny would pay for a ticket to a play…

How the plays were different… Like Atlanta’s Shakespeare Tavern, each theatre had its own company of actors, who were often supported by a nobleman or a member of the royal family. (Shakespeare was a member of The Lord Chamberlain’s Men. Lord Chamberlain arranged entertainment for Queen Elizabeth and her court.) Shakespeare co-owned his own theatre (The Globe), wrote plays, acted in them, hired other actors, and paid the bills. A new play was performed every three weeks, giving actors little time to rehearse. Most actors played more than one role. Most acting companies had three or four young boys who were practically raised in the theatre. (Remember The Shakespeare Stealer?) The boys started as early as age 7 and played female roles until they began shaving. Women did not become part of the English theatre for another 50 years.

How the plays were different… Most plays were performed in the afternoon. Most Elizabethan playgoers didn’t have 9-5 jobs, and so attending the theatre was the least of the “evils” available to them at that hour. (Other temptations would have been drinking, gambling or worse…) The cheapest seats weren’t seats at all but standing room in front of the stage. The play-goers who watched from here were called the “groundlings.” If the play was boring, groundlings would throw rotten eggs or vegetables. They would talk loudly to their friends, play cards and even pick fights with each other.— A bad performance could cause a riot.– (One theatre was set on fire by an audience that didn’t like the play.)

How the plays were different… The stage was open to the sky. If it rained or snowed, the actors and audience were miserable. The stage was bare, with only a few pieces of furniture. Shakespeare used trap doors as a successful prop.–Ghosts could rise up on the stage… Blood was a big attraction. During battle s and murder scenes, actors hid pig’s blood and guts under their costumes. When pierced with a sword, the bags gory contents would spill onto the stage. In 1575 a group of actors put on a pageant for Queen Elizabeth I. One of the actors had drunk too much ale, and in the middle of the performance, he pulled off his mask and shouted, “No Greek God am I, your Grace! Honest Harry Goldingham, that’s me!” Luckily for the actor, Queen Elizabeth thought it was a good joke.

The Globe A Theater in the Round…

Although Shakespeare's plays were performed at other venues during the his career, The Globe Theatre in the Southwark district of London was the venue at which the bard's best known stage works (including his four great tragedies) were first produced.

The Globe was built during Shakespeare's early period in 1599 by one of his long-standing associates, Cuthbert Burbage, the brother of the most famous Shakespearean actor of the Elizabethan Age, Richard Burbage.

The company named The Lord Chamberlain's Men, who built the Globe, formed in At the time, it was one of only two licensed acting companies in London. Among the eight actors in the group were William Shakespeare and Richard Burbage. Of the eight, only six donated the funds used to build the theater.

The Lord Chamberlain's Men later changed its name to the King's Company when King James I took over the English throne. The Globe was an important structure for Shakespeare because most of his plays were written to be performed on its stage. Romeo and Juliet was not one of them.

The Globe was obviously round in shape, containing 20 sides and three stories. Because the theater had no electricity, all performances were during the day to allow the sun to light the open air theater.

The color of the flag was significant: Red = history White = Comedy Black = Tragedy A flag on the top of the theater was raised on performance days.

The Globe enclosed an open courtyard, which theater-goers called “The Pit.” The patrons who sat here were fittingly called “The Groundlings.” More expensive seats, covered with a thatched roof, were called The Galleries.

The action took place on the main stage, which contained a trap door used for ghosts, demons, or even a grave in the famous scene from Hamlet. The back of the stage was called the inner stage, used mostly for indoor scenes. There was an “inner below” and an “inner above.”

In Shakespeare’s times no women were allowed to act, which is probably why there are more men’s parts than women’s in his plays. The productions did not have scenery and had very few props.

1 Flag 2. The Heavens 3. Tiring House 4. Upper Stage 5. Galleries 6. Main Stage 7. Inner Stage 8. Open Yard 9. Support Pillars 10. Trap Door 11. Entrance 12. Brick Foundation

Tragically, the original Globe burned down in 1613 due to a cannon shot used as a prop during a performance of Henry VIII. It was soon rebuilt, though, and remained open on its original foundations until the Puritans closed it in 1642 and the Globe II was torn down two years later to make room for housing.

An Early 17th Century drawing of the Globe in the time of Shakespeare

1647 Illustration by Wenceslaus Hollar

The foundation remained buried until the mid-twentieth century. In 1949, an American actor named Sam Wanamaker realized the Globe no longer existed. He made it his life’s work to bring the Globe back to life.

The New Globe Theatre as it appears today…