The Traveling Globe
by Julie
Looper
Hello, I am an actor of The Globe Theater in London and I wanted to tell you a little bit about the amazing history of The Globe. It has much more to it than what you see. It began in 1576 when the "The Theatre" was built. I got a job in the theatre about ten years later and began my career of being an actor, or should I say helping with the actors. I worked there for many years when the lease on the building came to a close and I was unsure what I was going to do. Before I knew it a man bought the theatre and a little bit later asked for our help. I was unsure what to do but he wanted to strip the theatre down to its foundation and move the materials across the Thames to Bankside. Not knowing what else to do for work I agreed and in 1598 we helped him move all the materials and helped in the rebuilding of the theatre and when we were finished in 1599 he renamed it "The Globe." There were four other major theatres in the area named the Swan, the Rose, and the Hope but the Globe was definitely my favorite. I enjoyed being able to work in the theatre and I really enjoyed working with a man named Shakespeare.
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Well to continue on, the Globe was a hit and many nights we had the theatre filled seating 3,000 people with seats in the audience. Some people think The Globe is a circle, it appears this way, but it is really a building with about twenty sides which make it look round. To watch a performance in this place was amazing because once you sit down you are back outside again with the building surrounding you but no roof, just open air. There is a rectangular stage with three stories of seating for the wealthier viewers all around the theatre. On the ground was a place for the "groundlings" who paid a penny and kept the crowd alive, almost a little too much. Under the stage was room for the actors to secretively get on the other side of the stage along with various trap doors in order to help in the effects of the performance. There was a special room behind the stage called the "tiring room" which was for storage and costume changes with had two doors on each side for the actors. The front stage was always clear with no curtain so the players, also known as the actors, were always seen entering and exiting the stage.
Since we were not allwed to announce the performances due to the Puritans not allowing publicity, we had a flag at the top of the theatre to announce the plays to everyone. A black flag meant a tragedy play, a white for comedy, and a red for history. We were really enjoying the theatre and I really loved working there, although it was hard to speak the little parts I had over the noisy crowd. Unfortunately, in 1613 the Globe Theatre burned to the ground when a canon shot off towards the roof of the theatre during one of the plays.
I was so disappointed that my dream of working in The Globe theatre was fading away. Until we decided to build the Globe up again so we had many people help us build it again and a couple years later it was ready. It continued to provide entertainment until 1642 when the Puritans closed it down because they did not approve of the entertainment it was providing. That was the end my life along with the Globe Theatre, for now. But I understand that they were wanting to build a new Globe Theatre with the same materials and look as in the 16th century.
References:
J.M. Pressley. "Shakespeare Resource Center," htttp://www.bardweb.net/globe.html
Alissa Ressel, "The WWW Globe Theatre," http://aressel.com/globe (1998)
John Cranford Adams, "How Large was the Globe Playhouse?" Shakespeare Quarterly, 1982, vol. 33
The Globe Theatre- Established in 1599 from another theatre but renamed, not many pictures of the old globe so no one is for sure what it looked like (other than drawings of other theatres) but there are pictures of the new globe which was reconstructed to the assumed old design near the old site in 1993
Author's Note:
I used a variety of sources which allowed me to see a view from many perspectives in order to put the whole together. I used what people thought about the time period in order to portray the mindset and characteristics of the modern time of the existence of the theatres. I used the sources I found in order to paraphase the information I found into the life of a person who had first hand experience and dedication with the history and importance of the theatre.