The Globe Theatre
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The Globe Theatre was a theatre in London associated with William Shakespeare. It was built in 1599 by Shakespeare's playing company. It was destroyed by fire on 29 June 1613. A second Globe Theatre was built on the same site by June 1614 and closed in 1642.
How was it built?During the first years of Elizabeth’s reign, the English playing companies used inns, inn yards, college halls and private houses for their performances. It was not until 1576 that the actor-manager James Burbage built the "Theatre" in Shoreditch, the first purpose-built playhouse in London. Shakespeare joined the resident troupe at the Theatre in the 1580s and the company (later known as the Chamberlain’s and then the King’s Men) were sucessful there for 20 years.
In April 1597 the lease expired, but the dispute continued for two years. In Christmas 1598 the company sought a solution: they leased a plot near the Rose, a rival theatre in Southwark, demolished the Theatre and carried it timber by timber over the river. To cover the cost of the new playhouse, James Burbage’s sons Cuthbert and Richard, offered some members of the company shares in the building. Shakespeare was one of four actors who bought a share in the Globe. By early 1599 the theatre was up and running and for 14 years, presenting many of Shakespeare’s greatest plays. In 1613, during a performance of Henry VIII, a stage cannon misfired and ignited the thatched roof and the theatre burned to the ground ‘all in less than two hours. The only casulty was a man who poured ale on his breeches because they were on fire. The theatre was quickly rebuilt, this time with a tiled roof. Shakespeare may never have acted in the second Globe. It remained the home for Shakespeare’s old company until the closure of all the theatres under England’s Puritan administration in 1642. No longer of use, it was demolished to make room for tenements in 1644. |