globe theatre

William Shakespeare was an amazing play writer. When hearing his name most people think of the plays he has written such as Macbeth, Hamlet and Twelfth Night. Also they tend to think of the performances. His plays were during the day, now-a-days most plays are in the evening. I myself forgot about the non-existence of electricity at the time ( I know sad, right). Since there was no electricity or light bulbs the only light usable was natural sun light or candles and considering the amount of plays put on, that would be a waste of wax.

The Globe Theater was built in 1599 somewhere outside of London, England. To get there they had to cross the Thames River, which was filled with sewage. There was also the London Bridge, but as you all know from the song, it falls down.

To watch the plays at the Globe Theater it cost as little as one penny, that was to stand in front of the stage and watch. These people were called groundings. To sit in actual seats in balconies it cost as little as two pennies, but sometimes more. Depending on where you sat. the theater could hold up to 3000 people.

On June 29, 1613 a horrible accident happened during a performance of Henry the Eighth. A cannon misfired lighting one of the beams on fire and the whole place rose up in flames. It was rebuilt in the following year.

Three years after the theater was rebuilt, Shakespeare died. Plays were still put on till 1642 when parliament issued an order abolishing all stage plays. then in 1644 the theater was torn down to build homes on the land.

Just think without the Globe Theater there wouldn't be a William Shakespeare so often talked about. Or the literature that he produced. English classes would be so entirely different. The arts of theater and dramatics would be very unprogressed. The Globe Hheatre is very important to history.


Citations
"Globe Theatre." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Globe_Theatre. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 May 2010.