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A History of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre

© Meg Greene Malvasi

The Globe was an octagonal-shaped building with an open-air stage that could hold as many as 3000 people. The general audience were "groundlings," who sat or stood on the ground to watch, while those who could afford to sat in gallery boxes. There were specially-constructed trapdoors as well as a gallery above the stage for balcony scenes, exits and entrances.

James Burbage, owner of The Globe Theatre, moved the theatre to avoid paying higher rent. The Globe was too small to fit the scores of theatregoers who came to see the plays of the up-and-coming William Shakespeare. James found a new site across the Thames River, near two other famous London theatres, the Rose and the Swan. Quietly, Burbage arranged for a local carpenter, Peter Street, to go into the darkened theatre at night and loosen the building joints.

On the night of January 20, 1599, actors and friends of Burbage gathered outside the theatre. Then in a "most forcible and riotous manner," they took and carried away all the wood and timbers. Crossing the frozen Thames, the group carried the pieces of the dismantled theatre to its new home where it would be rebuilt.

Fire at the Globe Theatre and the Puritan Movement

In 1613, during the premiere of Shakespeare's Henry VIII, a cannon fired during a scene and set fire to the roof. Within an hour, the Globe had burned to the ground. Most of the costumes, props, and Shakespeare's plays were rescued from the flames.

The theatre was soon rebuilt, but in 1642 the Puritans came to power and, frowning on entertainment of any kind, the new government ordered all the theatres closed. The Globe was torn down in 1644.

The Modern Day Globe Theatre

In 1970, interest in the Globe returned with the help of Sam Wanamaker and the Shakespeare Globe Playhouse Trust. Studies were done to establish the approximate site of the theatre and construction on a new Globe Theatre began in 1989. While digging for the new building, workers uncovered the original foundations of the Globe. As it turned out, the new theatre was located roughly 100 yards from the site of the old Globe.

In 1999, the Globe reopened with a performance of Henry V, one of the first plays performed in the original Globe. Today people can once more see plays in the theatre as they were performed during Shakespeare's time.

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