The reconstructed Globe is a replica of the one that hosted the first works of England’s most famous playwright and writer. Now the theater’s repertoire includes a huge number of productions of William Shakespeare.
Despite the fact that this theater is quite young (the building was completed in 1997), the history of its existence is more than three hundred years and consists of three stages with a significant break:
The first theater was built in 1599 by the actors of Lord Chamberlain’s Men, a troupe to which William Shakespeare belonged. This temple of Melpomene did not exist long, and in the summer of 1613 completely burned down during a fire;
Despite the considerable damage, the building was rebuilt a year later, and the theater functioned there until 1642, after which it was demolished by the Puritans, who came to power;
The modern theater, based on descriptions and the remains of the foundation of the building discovered during archaeological excavations, was erected in the late nineties of the last century, two hundred meters from the site of the first building itself.
Interestingly, the owners of the new theater were almost all of the actors in Lord Chamberlain’s Men: the Burbage brothers, Richard and Cuthbert owned 25% each, and Shakespeare, Hemings, Phillips and Pope each owned 12.5%. Over time, the shares were partly sold, the number of shareholders increased, and the actors’ share decreased (for example, Shakespeare had only eight percent of the securities left as a result of various financial transactions).
Address: Shakespeare’s Globe, 21 New Globe Walk, Bankside, London, SE1 9DT.
Subway stations: Blackfriars, Mansion House, London Bridge, Southwark.
Open from 9.30am to 6pm.