The most famous of all Elizabethan theatres was the Globe. Built in 1599, Shakespeare was a share-owner, and many of his own plays were first performed there. It was a hugely popular, open-air playhouse, which held hundreds of people. To watch a play, the general public would pay one penny to stand in front of the stage in the pit, and more well-to-do folk would pay an extra penny for seats in the gallery. Lords and ladies sat on chairs on each side of the stage. Unlike today, you were not expected to be still and silent throughout the performance – the audience would eat, drink and talk all the way through!
In 1613 the Globe Theatre burnt down when a spark from a cannon set fire to the roof. It was rebuilt a year later and continued to be as popular as ever until in 1642, the religious Puritans won the right to ban all theatre productions. The Globe was eventually demolished in 1644.
Hundreds of years later, in 1992 the American actor-director Sam Wanamaker started a project to reconstruct the Globe theatre near to its original site on the south bank of the River Thames, using techniques and materials as close to the original as possible. It was completed and opened in 1997 – the first building in London that was allowed to have a thatched roof since the Great Fire of London in 1666.
Throughout the year you can go on a guided tour of the Globe theatre and watch a play in exactly the same way that the Elizabethan audiences would have (although it will cost you more than one penny!).
Stratford-upon-Avon, the birthplace of William Shakespeare, lies in the heart of England in Warwickshire, on the banks of the River Avon. Millions of people flock to Stratford every year to visit the place where the famous dramatist and poet was born, lived and died. Stratford is the home of the Royal Shakespeare Company and no visit to Stratford is complete without going to see one of Shakespeare’s plays performed in the theatres of Stratford.