The Globe Theatre and The Elizabethan Audience

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The Globe Theatre

The Globe Theatre in London , where William Shakespeare's most famous plays premiered; Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth, and Twelfth Night, was built in 1599 in Southwark on the south bank of London’s River Thames by Richard Burbage. It was co-owned by Shakespeare, with a share of 12.5%. The Globe was a large, open-aired, three-tiered theater made out of timber taken from the Theatre-– a former theatre owned by Richard Burbage’s father.

The Globe Theatre burned to the ground on June 29, 1613, during a performance of Shakespeare’s last history play Henry VIII: Or, All is True, when a special effect, a cannon set light to the thatched roof and the fire quickly spread. The Globe was rebuilt in 1614.

In 1997 a third version of The Globe Theatre was built as “Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre”, close to the original site in Southwark.

Shakespeare's Globe Theatre

Shakespeare refers to the Globe Theatre in several of his plays, describing it in the opening passage of Henry V as “this wooden O.” In one of Shakespeare’s last plays, his beloved romance, The Tempest (1611), Prospero abruptly ends his daughter’s wedding masque, claiming, “Our revels are now ended,” and continues “the great globe itself / …shall dissolve” (The Tempest 4.1.148, 153-154).1

The theatre was a sight of action. Because of no electricity, all performances were held during the afternoon. None of the props that we have today; the lights, speakers, or microphones, were present then. No play was repeated twice, all were performed at regular short intervals, in a repertory. The Elizabethan audiences were deprived of eye-catching background scenes and props. Thus emphasis was on the language and the costumes. The sumptuous, breathtaking clothes were...

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..., Retrieved 15 April. 2014.

3. William Shakespeare, Macbeth, Act III, Scene 2, http://www.enotes.com/macbeth-text/act-iii-scene-ii#mac-3-2-14, Retrieved 15 April. 2014.

4. William Shakespeare, All's Well That Ends Well, http://shakespeare.mit.edu/allswell/full.html, Retrieved 15 April. 2014.

5. “A Brief History of the Audience”. http://www.shakespearetheatre.org. n.p. n.d. Web. Retrieved 15 April. 2014.

6. Mabillard, Amanda. Shakespeare's Audience: The Groundlings. Shakespeare Online. 20 Aug. 2000. Retrieved 15 April. 2014. .

7. Alchin, L.K. “Elizabethan Theatre audiences”. http://www.elizabethan-era.org.uk. n.p. n.d. Web. Retrieved 15 April. 2014. < http://www.elizabethan-era.org.uk/elizabethan-theatre-audiences.htm>

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