Globe Theatre Description
Interesting information about
the Globe Theatre Description during the life and times of William Shakespeare and the Globe
Theatre of Elizabethan London, England
Globe Theatre Description
The following Globe Theatre Description
has been taken from the Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and
Instruction which as published in London on March 31, 1832
providing a description closer to the modern descriptions
which are often changed during the passing of time.
Globe Theatre Description of
the exterior
The Globe Theatre stood on
a plot of ground, now occupied by four houses, contiguous to the present
Globe Alley, Maiden Lane, Southwark. This theatre was of considerable
size. It is not certain when it was built. Hentzner, the German
traveller, who gives an amusing description of London in the time of
Queen Elizabeth, alludes to it as existing in 1598, but it was probably
not built long before 1596. It was an hexagonal, wooden building, partly
open to the weather, and partly thatched with reeds, on which, as well
as other theatres, a pole was erected, to which a flag was affixed.
These flags were probably displayed only during the hours of
performance.
Globe Theatre Description of
the exterior
We have no description of the interior of the Globe, but that it was
somewhat similar to our modern theatres, with an open space in the roof:
or perhaps it more resembled an inn-yard, where, in the beginning of
Queen Elizabeth's reign, many of our ancient dramatic pieces were
performed. The galleries in both were arranged on three sides of the
building; the small rooms under the lowest, answered to our present
boxes and were called rooms; the yard bears a sufficient resemblance to
the pit, as at present in use, and where the common people stood to see
the exhibition; from which circumstance they are called by Shakspeare
"the groundlings," and by Ben Jonson, "the understanding gentlemen of
the ground." The stage was erected in the area, with its back to the
gateway where the admission money was taken. The price of admission into
the best rooms, or boxes, was in Shakspeare's time, a shilling, though
afterwards it appears to have risen to two shillings and half-a-crown.
The galleries, or scaffolds, as they were sometimes called, and that
part of the house which in private theatres was named the pit, seem to
have been the same price, which was sixpence, while in some meaner
playhouses it was only a penny, and in others two-pence.
Globe Theatre Description
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