The Globe Theatre The Globe Theatre was a theatre in London associated with William Shakespeare. It was built in 1599 by Shakespeares playing company, the Lord Chamberlains Men, on land owned by Thomas Brend and inherited by his son, Nicholas Brend and grandson Sir Matthew Brend, and was destroyed by fire on 29 June 1613. A second Globe Theatre was built on the same site by June 1614 and closed in 1642. A modern reconstruction of the Globe, named Shakespeares Globe, opened in 1997 approximately 750 feet (230 m) from the site of the original theatre. From 1909, the current Gielgud Theatre was called Globe Theatre, until it was renamed in 1994. The Globe was owned by actors who were also shareholders in Lord Chamberlains Men. Two of the six Globe shareholders, Richard Burbage and his brother Cuthbert Burbage, owned double shares of the whole, or 25% each; the other four men, Shakespeare, John Heminges, Augustine Phillips, and Thomas Pope, owned a single share, or 12.5%. The Globes actual dimensions are unknown, but its shape and size can be approximated from scholarly inquiry over the last two centuries. The evidence suggests that it was a three-storey, open-air amphitheatre approximately 100 feet (30 m) in diameter that could house up to 3,000 spectators. The Globe is shown as round on Wenceslas Hollars sketch of the building, later incorporated into his etched Long View of London from Bankside in 1647. However, in 1988–89, the uncovering of a small part of the Globes foundation suggested that it was a polygon of 20 sides. At the base of the stage, there was an area called the pit, (or, harking back to the old inn-yards, yard)[ where, for a penny, people (the groundlings) would stand on the rush-strewn earthen floor to watch the performance. During the excavation of the Globe in 1989 a layer of nutshells was found, pressed into the dirt flooring so as to form a new surface layer.[9] Vertically around the yard were three levels of stadium-style seats, which were more expensive than standing room. A rectangular stage platform, also known as an apron stage, thrust out into the middle of the open-air yard. The stage measured approximately 43 feet (13.1 m) in width, 27 feet (8.2 m) in depth and was raised about 5 feet (1.5 m) off the ground. On this stage, there was a trap door for use by performers to enter from the cellarage area beneath the stage. The back wall of the stage had two or three doors on the main level, with a curtained inner stage in the centre (although not all scholars agree about the existence of this supposed inner below),[ and a balcony above it. The doors entered into the tiring house (backstage area) where the actors dressed and awaited their entrances. The floors above may have been used to store costumes and props and as management offices. The balcony housed the musicians and could also be used for scenes requiring an upper space, such as the balcony scene in Romeo and Juliet. Rush matting covered the stage, although this may only have been used if the setting of the play demanded it. Large columns on either side of the stage supported a roof over the rear portion of the stage. The ceiling under this roof was called the heavens, and was painted with clouds and the sky. A trap door in the heavens enabled performers to descend using some form of rope and harness. The name of the Globe supposedly alludes to the Latin tag totus mundus agit histrionem, in turn derived from quod fere totus mundus exerceat histrionem—because all the world is a playground—from Petronius, which had wide circulation in England in the Burbages time. Totus mundus agit histrionem was, according to this explanation, therefore adopted as the theatres motto. Another allusion, familiar to the contemporary theatre-goer, would have been to Teatrum Mundi, a meditation by the twelfth-century classicist and philosopher John of Salisbury, in his Policraticus, book three. In either case, there would have been a familiar understanding of the classical derivation without the adoption of a formal motto Artwork: David Scott, Queem Elizabeth at the Globe Theatre en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Globe_Theatre
Posted on: Fri, 23 Jan 2015 00:15:35 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015