The Globe’s open-air circular form recalls an Elizabethan playhouse, but the building here is a modern reconstruction. Its shape brings audience and actors into close relation, while its history links the original Bankside theatre to the continuing effort to stage Shakespeare in a historically informed setting.
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The Globe’s circular timber frame gives the theatre an unusually direct relationship between stage and audience. The building you see is the third Globe: the first was built by Shakespeare’s company in 1599, and the present theatre opened in 1997 after a long campaign led by Sam Wanamaker.
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UpgradeQuick facts
- The first Globe opened in 1599.
- The 1613 theatre fire began during a performance of Henry VIII.
- The present Globe opened in 1997.
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