Project- 1A- “The Globe Theater”

The globe theater was constructed between 1597 and

1599 in Southwark on the south bank of London’s river
Thames, founded by Richard Burbage. It had three levels
of seating, each having a diameter of a hundred feet and
was able to accommodate three thousand spectators. At
the base of the stage the area was called “the pit” where
people called groundlings paid only a penny to stand
and watch the play. Color coded flags were used to
describe what type of play was to be showed. Red for
history, white for comedy and black for tragedy. A crest
above the main the entrance was inscribed with the motto
“Totus mundus agit histrionum.” which is Latin for “All
the world’s a stage”. On June 29, 1613, the globe theater
was burned down during the performance of Henry the
eighth when a theatrical cannon was misfired causing
the wood beams and thatching to ignite. No one but a
man who was forced to put out his breeches with a bottle
of ale was hurt. The globe theater was re-built at the same
spot in 1614. The Puritans brought an end to The Globe
Theatre in 1642 with an order suppressing all stage
plays. In 1644 The Globe Theatre was turned into
tenement housing, ending 85 years of turbulent history.
Project-1B- “Shakespeare’s Globe”
At the initiation of American actor and director Sam
Wanamaker, a new Globe theatre was built according to
an Elizabethan plan. The design team comprised Theo
Crosby of Pentagram as the architect, Buro Happold as
structural and services engineers and Boyden & Co as
quantity surveyors. It opened in 1997 under the name
"Shakespeare's Globe Theatre" and now stages plays
every summer (May to October).
The reconstruction was carefully researched so that the
new building would be as faithful a replica as possible.
This was aided by the discovery as final plans were being
made of the site of the original Globe itself.
Modernizations include the addition of sprinklers on the
roof to protect against fire, and the fact that the theatre
is partly joined onto a modern lobby, visitor’s center and
additional backstage support areas. Due to modern
Health and Safety regulations one thousand four
hundred people can be housed during a show, under half
the estimated three thousands of Shakespeare's time.
Elizabethan theaters were temporary, dirty and noisy,
but none the less they attracted crowds of audiences from
all social classes. Performances generally took place in
the afternoons for a time period of two to three hours. Each
section of the theater bore different prices of admission.
Most performance spaces were arranged in such a way
that everyone could see both the play and others members
of the audience. The spectators often expressed distaste or
satisfaction for the performances.
Actors--Acting was not believed to be a proper career for
women in the Elizabethan era. Therefore, young men
played the female roles. Along with to their dramatic
talents, actors had to fence, sing songs or play
instruments included in the plays and perform the
energetic dances of that era. Richard Burbage was the
best known actor who performed in the Elizabethan
theater. He was the leading actor for Shakespeare’s
company, the “Lord Chamberlain’s men”, and is
recognized for portraying a number of dramatic leads
like Hamlet, Lear and Othello. Shakespeare himself
played roles in his own plays, usually as older male
characters.
Costumes--Costumes were a major investment for the
acting company for they provided the “Spectacle” of the
play. In Shakespeare’s time, clothes reflected a person’s
social status. There were laws controlling what could be
worn. Costumes were often second handed clothes of real
nobles and many a time the modern dress of that era,
resulting in actors wearing their own clothes for less
important roles. However, for a play of ancient Rome or
Greece, the company would try for an ancient look for the
important characters by giving those characters togas
over their normal clothes. The company reused costumes
if they could with few alterations and sometimes had
new costumes made.
Stage-- The scenery on the stage was minimal,
consisting exclusively of painted panels placed upstage.
The stage was covered with black for a tragedy and blue
for comedy. A board containing the place of the current
scene with large letters was generally hung. Only the
objects required for the plot, like a bed, throne or a grave
were used. Exits and entrances could be easily seen by
the audience, but included some vertical options. Actors
could descend from “heavens” above the stage or exit from
“hell” below through a trapdoor. Sound effects of
cannons, drums and unusual screams were used. Any
limitation on the stage was made up using the
imagination of the onlookers.
Project-2-“Theate in the age of Shakespeare”