The Globe Theatre (1599)

The Globe Theatre (1599)
Name	The Globe Theatre (1599)
Location	Southwark, London
Built	1599
Architect	Likely Peter Street (attributed)
Owner	Lord Chamberlain's Men
Capacity	~3,000
Type	Elizabethan playhouse
Demolished	1613 (fire), 1644 (demolition)

The Globe Theatre (1599) was an Elizabethan playhouse on the south bank of the River Thames in Southwark, London, associated with William Shakespeare and the company the Lord Chamberlain's Men. Opened in 1599, the Globe became central to dramatic culture during the reign of Elizabeth I and into the Jacobean era under James I of England. The theatre's form, repertoire, and management influenced the development of English Renaissance drama and later theatrical practice.

History and Construction

The Globe was constructed in 1599 after members of the Lord Chamberlain's Men acquired timbers from the dismantled The Theatre in Shoreditch and transported them across the River Thames to Southwark. Key figures in the transfer and rebuilding included Richard Burbage, Cuthbert Burbage, and William Heminges; financial backers and patentees such as John Heminges, Henry Condell, and William Shakespeare held shares. The site lay near Southwark Cathedral, the Clink district, and the Bear Garden, positioning the Globe among entertainment venues like the Rose Theatre, the Swan Theatre, and the Hope Theatre. The company navigated municipal regulation from the City of London Corporation and licenses under the Lord Chamberlain's office, negotiating space among inns, bear-baiting pits, and brothels in the liberty of the Clink.

Architecture and Design

The Globe's polygonal design, likely attributed to Peter Street by analogy with contemporary theatres, featured a thrust stage, a surrounding open yard, and multi-tiered galleries. Structural elements reused from The Theatre included large timber beams and jointing techniques familiar to carpenters linked to Elizabethan architecture and the guilds of the Worshipful Company of Carpenters. The stage had a "heaven" roof with painted scenery, trapdoors for under-stage effects, and a tiring house for costume and entrance logistics similar to arrangements at the Rose Theatre and Curtain Theatre. Acoustic and sightline practices paralleled those in continental venues patronized by travellers like Thomas Platter and commentators such as Philip Henslowe, whose diary records construction and expense. The Globe's exterior and timber framing resembled contemporaneous secular structures and noble halls used for masques at Whitehall Palace.

Performances and Repertoire

The Globe's repertoire centered on plays by William Shakespeare including Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth, and A Midsummer Night's Dream, performed alongside works by contemporaries such as Ben Jonson, Christopher Marlowe, Thomas Kyd, John Fletcher, and Francis Beaumont. The company staged histories drawn from chronicles like those of Holinshed and romances influenced by Italian Renaissance sources and translations by Arthur Golding and John Florio. Seasonal entertainments, masques, and interludes reflected connections with courtly culture at Whitehall Palace and provincial fêtes presided over by nobles such as the Earl of Southampton and patrons including Philip Henslowe and Edward Alleyn. Repertoires were shaped by censorship under the Master of the Revels and by market competition with private playhouses patronized by figures like George Carey.

Management and Ownership

Ownership of the Globe rested in a shareholders' arrangement among principal actors and investors: Richard Burbage, Cuthbert Burbage, John Heminges, Henry Condell, William Kempe, and possibly William Shakespeare. Business practices reflected Elizabethan corporate models akin to those of the Merchant Adventurers and guild-based partnerships; contracts, litigation, and leases appear in records alongside disputes with landowners such as Nicholas Brend and his heirs. Management balanced performance scheduling, touring to provincial houses in Oxford and Cambridge, and responses to plague closures mandated by the Privy Council and civic authorities in London.

Audience and Social Context

Audiences at the Globe ranged from groundlings in the open yard to courtiers and merchants in the galleries, encompassing social strata from artisans in Southwark to nobility connected to Kenilworth Castle entertainments. Spectators included students from St John's College, Cambridge and Christ Church, Oxford as well as foreign visitors like the Duke of Brunswick's retinue and ambassadors from Spain and the Dutch Republic. The theatre functioned amid urban contests over morality, competing with pastimes at the Bear Garden and regulated by parish authorities and the Court of Star Chamber. Costuming drew on materials sourced through merchants in Cheapside and tailors affiliated with the Worshipful Company of Drapers.

Destruction, Reconstruction, and Legacy

In 1613 the Globe burned during a performance of Henry VIII when a cannon misfired and set the thatch alight; the event is recorded alongside civic responses from the London Gazette and reactions by figures such as Ben Jonson and Inigo Jones in court architecture debates. A rebuilt Globe opened in 1614 with tile roofing but faced eventual closure and demolition under the Long Parliament during the English Civil War in 1644. The Globe's legacy persisted through the First Folio prepared by John Heminges and Henry Condell, scholarly editions by Nicholas Rowe, and modern reconstructions culminating in Shakespeare's Globe and archaeological investigations by the Museum of London Archaeology. The Globe's influence extends into global performance traditions observed at the Royal Shakespeare Company, academic institutions like King's College, Cambridge, and cultural commemorations during The Bardolatry movements and anniversaries of William Shakespeare's birth and death.

Category:Theatres in London