Search results
Feb 17, 2024 · Elvis passed away in August 1977. He was 42 years old. For a great evening of entertainment with impeccable service and an excellent meal, see “Aloha from Vegas” at New Theatre & Restaurant in ...
- Alan Portner
Sep 11, 2024 · In 1942, a junior homicide detective stumbles upon the murder of a famed mystery writer. Trapped in a mansion with several suspects, he finds himself outmatched by the cunning of the killer. His only hope in solving the case -- his mystery-loving mother, who luckily is trapped in the mansion with him. SEP 11 , 2024 - NOV 17, 2024.
Jul 16, 2024 · This is a young dancer’s show. All the performers do a super job. There is limited stage space and this director, set designer, company, and producer use every inch to the utmost. The history is ...
- Alan Portner
- Overview
- The second best playhouse
- The success of the Globe
Globe Theatre, famous London theatre in which after 1599 the plays of William Shakespeare were performed.
Early in 1599 Shakespeare, who had been acting with the Lord Chamberlain’s Men since 1594, paid into the coffers of the company a sum of money amounting to 12.5 percent of the cost of building the Globe. He did so as a chief shareholder in the company, and by doing so he helped to establish a uniquely successful form of commercial operation for the actors of the time. This investment gave Shakespeare and the other leading actors both a share in the company’s profits and a share in their playhouse.
Shakespeare’s company built the Globe only because it could not use the special roofed facility, Blackfriars Theatre, that James Burbage (the father of their leading actor, Richard Burbage) had built in 1596 for it inside the city. The elder Burbage had a long history as a theatrical entrepreneur. In 1576 he had built the first successful amphitheatre, known as The Theatre, in a London suburb. Twenty years later, when the lease on The Theatre’s land was about to expire, he built the theatre in Blackfriars as its replacement. But the wealthy residents of Blackfriars persuaded the government to block its use for plays, so Burbage’s capital was locked up. He died early in 1597, his plans for the future of theatre in London frustrated.
Thus, the members of the Lord Chamberlain’s Men were forced to rent a playhouse. At the end of 1598, they decided to build one for themselves. Because the inheritance of Burbage’s sons, Cuthbert and Richard, was tied up in the Blackfriars, they formed a consortium with Shakespeare and four other actors, who became co-owners of the new Globe. The same shortage of cash made the consortium reluctant traditionalists; they gave up the idea of an indoor theatre in the city. The old playhouse was one of their few remaining resources, but they could not use it in situ because the lease had expired, so they dismantled it, took the timbers (illegally) to make the skeleton of their new amphitheatre, and kept the basic auditorium shape of The Theatre for the new building.
For all its hurried construction in 1599, the Globe proved a triumph. Its first decade of use made it a favourite not just with subsequent generations of theatregoers but with the company itself. In later years the troupe paid a lot to keep it going. At least two circumstances provide evidence for this statement. In 1608, when the company could finally fulfill James Burbage’s original plan for the Blackfriars, the members chose, extravagantly, to operate the two theatres together, using the open-air Globe in the summer and the roofed Blackfriars in the winter. Had they chosen to, they easily could have rented one of the buildings to another company, since there was a shortage of playhouses in London in this period. But they kept both for themselves. They were given a second chance to transfer full-time to the Blackfriars in 1613, when the Globe burned to the ground, its thatch accidentally set alight by a cannon during a performance of Henry VIII. By then the Blackfriars was already beginning to bring better profits than the Globe, since the smaller house size was more than compensated by its higher prices. Instead, bearing the cost out of sentiment and traditional loyalty, the company members dug deep into their own pockets and rebuilt the Globe more splendidly than before.
Are you a student? Get Britannica Premium for only 24.95 - a 67% discount!
Learn More
Technically, the 1599 Globe and its 1614 replacement span an era in the history of theatre design. The first Globe, based on the skeleton of the original Theatre of 1576, was unique not just as the most famous example of that peculiar and short-lived form of theatre design but because it was actually the first to be built specifically for an existing acting company and financed by the company itself. Shakespeare designed As You Like It, Hamlet, Twelfth Night, Othello, All’s Well That Ends Well, Measure for Measure, King Lear, Macbeth, Antony and Cleopatra, Coriolanus, Pericles, and The Winter’s Tale, not to mention Troilus and Cressida and Timon of Athens, for performance there.
The first Globe was built by the company Shakespeare was in – the Lord Chamberlain’s Men. Richard Burbage was the company’s leading actor. They had played at the Theatre, built by the Burbage family on land leased from a Mr Allen. In 1597, Allen refused to renew the lease. However the Burbages owned the Theatre because the lease said they ...
Sep 24, 2024 · Major productions of Stranger Things: The First Shadow. Thus far, Stranger Things: The First Shadow has had two major productions: the world premiere in London's West End in November 2023 and the U.S. premiere on Broadway in March 2025. If the play is as much of a success on Broadway as it was in the West End, this production could leading to ...
People also ask
When did theatre start?
What happens at New Theatre & Restaurant?
Which Shakespeare plays were first performed at the globe?
What was the most famous production of the Workers' Theatre?
When did Theatre Toronto become a world-class theater?
What happened to the Crest Theatre & the Canadian players?
In Toronto, the Crest Theatre and the Canadian Players (1954-66) collapsed in 1966, causing shock waves. A new organization, Theatre Toronto, made a bid for world-class status in 1968-69. Its production of Rolf Hochhuth's Soldiers caused a stir in New York and London, but the company itself lasted only 2 seasons.
