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New Globe Playhouse Background When the American actor Sam Wanamaker visited London after World War II, he looked on Bankside for the splendid memorial to the birthplace of the greatest plays in the English language, and found nothing but this plaque on the wall of a brewery on Park Street in Southwark. When he came to live in London in the early fifties he started a campaign to recreate the Globe. Over forty years later his dream was fulfilled though sadly he didn't live to see it completed. Shakespeare's Globe now stands on the Bankside of the river Thames close to the site of the original, and every summer since 1997 we have experienced Shakespeare's genius in the setting for which it was intended.  Each summer Shakepeare's Globe stages a season of the Bard's plays often with works by other playwrights old and new.  At the end of this page is a list of all the plays performed with my reviews of those I've seen (most of them) and previews of the next or current season when it is announced. In 2005 Shakespeare's Globe published a DVD showing a day in the life of the Globe, and a brief history of how it came to be built.  Gaynor bought it for my birthday.  It starts with a history of how Sam Wanamaker managed to get the Globe built, but goes on to show how the Globe brings in young people on a daily basis to give them an experience of theatre and of Shakespeare.  Another major strand in the movie stars Jamie Garnon, who played Mercutio in the 2004 production of Romeo and Juliet. He talks us through an actor's day at the Globe, backstage, in rehearsal, and in performance of that play.  This was particularly interesting to me as I saw this production three times, once 'straight' at the Globe, once in an original pronunciation performance, and again in the Great Hall at Hampton Court.  As a regular playgoer at the Globe I loved this inside view of the theatre, and after watching the DVD Gaynor too wanted to see a play there.     The Building The reconstructed Globe was built wherever possible using the same methods and materials that were used in the original building. The shell is not circular, but made up of twenty straight sides. Making a circular building from oak tree trunks would be very hard work! Based upon a brick foundation, twenty huge oak timbers thirty two feet high form the skeletal frame of the building. To these are fixed oak frames and timbers with mortice and tenon joints, locked together with over 6000 tapered wooden pegs.   The walls are infilled with oak staves and laths, covered in several layers of plaster. One of the few changes from the ingredients used in the original is the make up of the plaster. The Elizabethan recipe used sand, slaked lime and cow hair. British cattle nowadays have hair too short for this purpose, and goat hair was used instead. Also modern fire regulations required a fire-proof sheet to be sealed in the wall. We don't want a repeat performance of the 1613 disaster, do we?   The charismatic actor Mark Rylance was the Artistic Director of the Globe for nearly ten years, but he said at the start of 2005 that that would be his last season as director.  In May 2005 Dominic Dromgoole, artistic director of the Oxford Stage Company since 1998, was appointed to take over.  Dromgoole was then a 40 year old stage director with controversial views on playwrights and current theatrical practice. His 2000 book The Full Room is a series of essays about contemporary playwrights.  I guess that it was in that book that he described Sir Tom Stoppard as 'a lunatic' and David Hare as 'a flat writer'.  He has been described as 'one of the most controversial rising stars of the theatre'. "'Hold on to your seatbelts, it's going to be a bumpy night' at Shakespeare's Globe!" is what I said when I heard the news, even though I looked forward with eager anticipation to the new era.  The first few seasons have been very good indeed.   Links Internal Original Globe   The story of how the original Globe came to be built   The building - a plan and what the Globe may have looked like   The excavation - what was discovered in 1989   The Rose - The Globe's great rival playhouse, its star Edward Alleyn and owner Philip Henslowe       Shakespeare's Globe   The story of how the new Globe came to be built       Mike's Views, Reviews and Previews     2010 Rogues and Villains     Macbeth Henry VIII Henry IV Part 1 Henry IV Part 2 Anne Boleyn by Howard Brenton The Merry Wives of Windsor Bedlam by Nell Leyshon     2009 Young Hearts     Romeo & Juliet The Frontline by Ché Walker As You Like It Troilus & Cressida Helen by Euripedes/Frank McGuinness A New World by Trevor Griffiths Love's Labour's Lost     2008 Totus Mundus     King Lear A Midsummer Night's Dream The Merry Wives of Windsor The Frontline by Ché Walker Timon of Athens Liberty by Glyn Maxwell     2007 Renaissance + Revolution     Othello The Merchant of Venice Love's Labour's Lost Holding Fire! by Jack Shepherd We, The People In Extremis by Howard Brenton     2006 The Edges of Rome     Coriolanus Titus Andronicus Antony & Cleopatra Under the Black Flag by Simon Bent The Comedy of Errors In Extremis by Howard Brenton     2005 The Season of the World and Underworld     The Tempest Pericles, Prince of Tyre The Winter's Tale The Storm by Peter Oswald Persephone Projects     2004 The Season of Star-Crossed Lovers     Romeo & Juliet Much Ado About Nothing Measure for Measure     2003 The Season of Regime Change     Richard II Richard III Dido Queen of Carthage by Christopher Marlowe Edward II by Christopher Marlowe The Taming of the Shrew     2002 The Season of Cupid & Psyche     Twelfth Night A Midsummer Night's Dream The Golden Ass     2001 The Celtic Season     King Lear Macbeth Cymbeline     2000     The Tempest Hamlet Two Noble Kinsmen The Antipodes by Richard Brome   1999   Julius Caesar The Comedy of Errors Antony and Cleopatra Augustine's Oak by Peter Oswald 1998   The Merchant of Venice As You Like It Otra Tempestad   1997       Globe Main   Globe Playhouse top page       Recommended Books   My list of recommended books about the Globe, Rose and other playhouses of the time may be found in the Globe Playhouse section of the Well Furlong Book Shop. If you so wish, you may go on to buy many of the volumes in our Book Shop directly from Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk.   External Shakespeare's Globe   The official New Globe site   Shakespeare's Globe DVD Gaynor bought me this DVD for my birthday and we both enjoyed it.  As a regular playgoer to the Globe I found its behind the scenes sequences fascinating.  Jamie Garnon shows us a day in his life as an actor at the Globe. He memorably played Mercutio in Romeo & Juliet in the 2004 season.  The history of Shakespeare's Globe is told, and the directors of music and costume talk about their work. For more information or to buy this DVD from amazon.co.uk click on the picture to the left.   Home|Gaynor|Mike|Art|Theatre|Book Shop Updated 6th July 2010