Shakespeares Globe
Shakespeares Globe
New Globe Walk, Bankside,
London SE1 7DT
Tel: 020 7930 6961
About Shakespeares Globe
Shakespeares Globe is a world-class family attraction that was voted the Best in Europe in 1996, even when it was only partially built, and prior to its official opening a year later. Shakespeares Globe is at New Globe Walk, Bankside, some 200 or so metres from the site of the original theatre, the foundations of which were uncovered beneath a car park in 1989. Excavations in 1997-98 suggested that the original Shakespeares Globe was a 20-sided structure, and today’s family attraction reflects that polygonal open-plan design.
The history of the amphitheatre is related by displays at Shakespeares Globe, ensuring both an informative and intriguing family day out, journeying through time to the Elizabethan world of pre-Great Fire London. Erected in 1599 by the Lord Chamberlain's Men, the players’ company in which Shakespeare was a partner, it was wrecked by fire in June 1613, when a cannon fired during Henry VIII lit the thatch roof. Rebuilt in 1614, Shakespeares Globe rose from the ashes and operated until 1644, when it was closed by order of the Puritans – not ones for any family day out!
The modern reconstruction of Shakespeares Globe emulated the original work of 1597-98 overseen by carpenter Peter Smith, with thousands of hand made wooden pegs used and thatching emplaced. Building work began in 1987 with the laying of six-metre foundations and the construction proper started in earnest in 1993. The plasterwork and thatching commenced in 1995, and the whole was completed by June 1997 at a cost of £30 million. The resulting edifice is indeed one of the most eyecatching and awe-inspiring in the capital, its whitewash and timber exterior, its unusual shape and, above all – literally – its open to the heavens roofless centre making it a modern icon, as well as a riveting family day out, or evening!
The first Shakespeares Globe playhouse could hold over 3000 punters, while the modern 2100 square metre version is considerably more comfortable at half that capacity. However, the opulent and grandly-designed family attraction is blessed with many amenities undreamed of by the first patrons of Shakespeares Globe. (Though the original on-site gambling house and brothel – the theatre was known as "The wooden O" in a nod to that aspect of the establishment’s entertainments - are missing!). As well as a faithfully-crafted interior based on extant images of the Globe’s sister theatre, The Swan, Shakespeares Globe has a bar, café and exhibits open to ticket holders, as envisaged by the driving force behind the reconstruction, American actor Steve Wanamaker (founder of the Shakespeare Globe Trust, in 1970).
The present Shakespeares Globe runs regular tours that reveal how the original utilised props such as cannons, smoke effects, fireworks and 'flying' rigging, and shows how the stage had trap-doors and a gallery where music was rendered by elaborately attired players. At the centre of the Shakespeares Globe Exhibition, and underneath the reconstructed Theatre, is the UnderGlobe. It’s a purpose-built space that can be used for private entertaining for up to 400 people, including theatre-style presentations, dinner-dances and receptions. A tour ticket grants visitors a peak into this otherwise hidden aspect of Shakespeares Globe, as well as the displays covering the work of the professional theatre company, Globe Education, which works with students, and the historical background focusing on the Actor and others involved in staging plays, the Architecture and the craftsmen who built and decorated Shakespeares Globe, the London where he lived, and the Audiences attending performances. The family attraction brings in over 750,000 bums on seats per annus.
Other highlights of the Shakespeares Globe Tour include extravagant Elizabethan costumes, Renaissance musical instruments such as mandolins and sackbutts, and explanations of how they were used, and dramatic stories of the first Globe’s life and times. The costume collection explains the processes behind the designing, making and fitting of costumes for Shakespeares Globe productions past and present, and visitors can feel the fabrics used in contemporary productions and even don some armour in the Elizabethan attiring room. Just the ticket for all budding Knights of the stage! The tour guide also involves touch-screens that show how the Elizabethans created the illusion of executions like hangings on stage, created thunder and other weather effects, and what they used for blood and flesh in the gorier scenes of the tragedies and history plays. There is even a full-size reproduction of a 17th-century printing press and the opportunity to create your own edition of Hamlet on screen, using one of the many interactive elements that make the Shakespeares Globe Exhibition and Tour an enlightening and highly productive family day out.
Tours of Shakespeares Globe take place for ticket holders every half an hour or so, except during matinee performances in the theatre, when visitors are taken to the adjacent site of Bankside's first theatre, The Rose, where Shakespeare’s contemporaries like Christopher Marlowe and Ben Jonson wrote their greatest plays, and which has been extensively excavated by archaeologists. Indeed, a short film detailing the history of The Rose, Bankside and discoveries made at the site is on show as part of the Shakespeares Globe Exhibition, adding variety to an already mesmerising family day out.
Additionally, a range of events throughout the year give the family attraction even more of an irresistible pull, with lectures, seminars and staged readings providing historical and theatrical contexts to Shakespeare’s plays and the playhouse. A research library and performance archive are open to ticket holders by appointment and research seminars are regularly held, while a number of areas are available for hospitality events, such as the Shakespeares Globe Balcony Room on the top floor, with stunning views over the Thames, St. Paul’s Cathedral, the City of London and the Millennium Bridge, its French windows opening onto a panoramic balcony for up to 70 dinner guests.
Ticket holders also have access to fine food at the Shakespeares Globe café/restaurant, while the whole site is disabled-friendly, making it a family attraction that everyone can relish.