The Globe theatre was a landmark in London. Shakespeare’s playing company the Lord Chamberlain’s Men built this in six months between 1597 and 1598. A large three-storey building was open to the public in September 1599.
It housed an amphitheatre around 30 m wide that could seat almost 3,000 spectators. The base of the stage could accommodate 1,000 extra people — those who could not afford to pay to watch the performance. The stage was surrounded by a ring of balcony seating covered by a straw roof.
On summer days
The first play to be staged was Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar . Over the next 14 years, many of his other plays were also performed here, as the company retained the venue for their summer productions. Though the plays used no backdrops, or lighting, they did use cannons (occasionally), smoke effects, fireworks (for dramatic battle scenes), trapdoors and rigging which allowed for flying entrances. They became more ambitious and wanted to use real cannons on the stage as it would guarantee an amazing sound effect. Clearly, the safety issues were not discussed and fire hazards were ignored.
On the evening of June 29, 1613, Henry VIII was being staged. There were many cannons being fired, describing the entry of King Henry at a Masque at Cardinal Wolsey’s house. One such theatrical cannon (loaded with gunpowder and wadding) misfired, igniting the wooden beams and thatching of the theatre. The audience believed it was smoke from the cannon, and ignored it. However, once they realised it was a fire, they began to run out through the two narrow doors — the main entrance and the exit. The fire started inward, and began enveloping other areas. Within a couple of hours, the entire house was reduced to ashes. However, all managed to escape and there were no reports of any causalities.
The Globe theatre was rebuilt in 1614 and closed down in 1642 by Puritants who thought this place unfit for society.
In 1997, a little away from the original area, a modern reconstruction of the Globe was built and named “Shakespeare’s Globe”, and his plays are staged here till date.
