The Globe Theatre

A tour of the The Globe Theatre London in February 2015. The Globe Theatre was built between 1597 and 1599 in Southwark on the south bank of London’s River Thames, funded by Richard Burbage and built by carpenter Peter Smith and his workers . The timber for The Globe Theatre was actually reused wood from “The Theatre” – an earlier theatre owned by Richard Burbage’s father. The Globe was built as a large, round, open air theatre. There was a roof around the circumference which covered the seating area, leaving the theatre looking like a doughnut from above. The architectural style of The Globe was similar to the Coliseum in Rome, but on a smaller scale – other Elizabethan theatres also followed this style of architecture which were called amphitheatres. The Globe had three stories of seating and was able to hold up to 3,000 spectators in its’ 100 foot diameter. At the base of the stage was an area called “the pit” which held “the groundlings” – people who paid just a penny to stand and watch a performance. At the peak of summertime the groundlings were also referred to as ‘ stinkards’… for reasons that may well be obvious! William Shakespeare was a shareholder who owned 12.5% of The Globe Theatre. As a young writer Shakespeare bought shares in the theatre and benefited financially as his popularity grew.