During a performance of Henry VIII, London’s Globe Theatre burned to the ground on June 29, 1613. The theater was built in 1599 by two of Shakespeare’s associates, Richard and Cuthbert Burbage. During a scene marking the king’s entrance on stage, a cannon was fired, setting the thatched roof on fire. The entire theater was destroyed within an hour, but all the patrons were able to escape. The Globe was rebuilt within the year, this time with a tile roof, but it was demolished in 1644 by Oliver Cromwell’s Puritanical regime.