Liberty Lyceum Travel

We love to watch excellent performances of Shakespeare’s plays, so when we planned our trip to London, visiting the Globe Theatre was at the top of our to-do list. The current theatre opened in 1997, and is a historic reconstruction of the original Globe, which flourished a couple of blocks away in the early 1600s.

William Shakespeare was part owner of the original Globe, and developed quite a few of his plays there, in the round, open-air theatre on the south bank of the Thames River. The theatre burned to the ground in 1613 when a cannon fired during a performance of Henry V sent a spark flying into the thatch roof.

Until recent years, only a plaque noting the site of the original Globe indicated its presence. The plaque was discovered by an American actor named Sam Wanamaker when he went looking for evidence of the Globe. His passion for Shakespeare convinced him there should be a reconstruction of the theatre, and due to his vision, enthusiasm, and fundraising abilities, the reconstruction became reality. His daughter, British actress Zoe Wanamaker, continued to lead the project after his death.

Today, Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre has become a “new” institution in a revitalized area on the south bank of the Thames (the Tate Modern art museum is next door, for example). Luckily, we became members of the Globe back in the fall, and bought tickets for two performances the day they went on sale to members, because all shows have been sold out while we’ve been here. Besides the theatre, constructed to historic standards (with wooden pegs instead of nails, for example), there is a wonderful museum (exhibition) underneath it, a great gift shop, a restaurant, and other supporting facilities.

We adored the exhibition, coming back on a second day to finish it. Anyone who loves Shakespeare should plan to tour it if you visit the theater. We also took a wonderful guided tour in which we learned fun facts such as that 700 groundlings (people who stand to watch the performance) fill the space today that would have been filled by 1,000 in Shakespeare’s day. Few of them bathed more than once per year, and they all stood chewing garlic during the performance to keep from getting sick (whew!).

Then there were the performances. The first we saw was “As You Like It,” and it was a wonderful experience. But it faded into memory when we saw “Much Ado About Nothing,” one of our favorite plays by Shakespeare. The highlight of the play is surely the witty verbal sparring between Beatrice and Benedick, and the actors at the performance we attended (Eve Best and Charles Edwards) did not disappoint. Both were excellent, and we especially loved Eve Best’s Beatrice.

At the Globe, they use more music in the performances than was done in Shakespeare’s time, but consistent with the context and content of the plays. At both performances, the music and dancing were wonderful, especially the revelry at the end of Much Ado!

Yet despite the quality of the play, the experience of being in the actual Globe Theatre, with its open air (and we were almost rained on during one performance, but then not!) and high seats over the stage with minimal sets, is what makes it unforgettable. We’ve seen Shakespeare done as well in other places, but nevertheless, those places were not The Globe.

Please see some photos from the exhibition and a few from before each of the two performances we saw!