William Shakespeare and the Globe Theatre

William Shakespeare

• Born April 1546, died April 1616• Born in Stratford-upon-Avon and died

there too• Father was a middle-class glove maker• An English poet and playwright widely

regarded as the greatest writer of the English language

• The most quoted writer in the literature and history of the English-speaking world

• Exact dates and chronology of his work are uncertain

• Believed to have produces his work between 1586 and 1612

• Excelled in both tragedy and comedy

• Attended grammar school in central Stratford

• Romeo and Juliet is the most famous of his plays

Image of Shakespeare from the First Folio (1623), the first collected edition of his plays

The Globe Theatre• The original Globe Theatre, built in 1599

by the playing company to which Shakespeare belonged, was destroyed by fire in 1613

• Was rebuilt in 1614, closed in 1642, and demolished in 1644

• A modern reconstruction opened in 1997

• Most of Shakespeare's post-1599 plays were originally staged here

• 3 story 100 ft wide open-air amphitheatre that could house 3,000

• Base of the stage was an area called the "yard" where people (the "groundlings") would stand to watch the performance

• Around the yard were 3 levels of seating which were more expensive than standing

• The first two were called the Twopenny Rooms and the top level was called the Penny Gallery

• A rectangular stage platform thrust out into the middle of the open-air yard

• Trap door on stage, seconded trap door in the back of the stage

• Was a balcony which housed the musicians and could also be used for scenes such as the balcony scene in Romeo and Juliet

• Balcony referred to as the "Lord's Room" where higher-paying audience members could pay to be seated. They sat here more to be seen than to see the play as they would have been behind the performers