Dimensions
of the original Globe:
Diameter: 100 ft. surface to surface
/ 99 ft center to center
Yard: 70 ft. between post centers /
69 feet surface to surface
Stage: 49 ft. 6 inches across
Stage height: 5 feet
Gallery Depth: 15 ft. 6 inches overall
/ 15 ft. 6 inches between post centers
Overall height: 36 ft. 6 inches
Overall heights from floor to floor:
15 ft. 6 in., 11 ft. 3 in., and 9 ft. 9 in. to the plates
Balcony floor: 18 ft. 6 in. above the
yard, 13 ft. 6 in. above stage
Frons Scenae doors:
11 feet tall
Heavens ceiling height: 26 ft. 9 inches
(to the height of the upper gallery floor)
Dimensions
of the new Globe:
Height: 33 feet to the eaves, 45 feet
overall
Diameter: 100 feet
Circumference: 300 feet
Sections: 20
Capacity: 1600, including 700 standing
places
Timeline
of the Globe Theater
1599 - 1999
1. The Original Globe and
surrounding aread - key dates:
*1564 - William Shakespeare
was born in Stratford
*1576 - James Burbage
builds the the first public playhouse in London
*1598-9 - The first Globe
Playhouse was built and opened, using timber from the Theatre following
a quarrel with the Giles Allen, owner of the land.
*September 21, 1599
-first recorded performance of a play at the Globe (Julius Caesar), by
a Swiss visitor, Thomas Platter.
*1613 - The Globe burns
down accidentally during a performance of Henry VIII. The playhouse is
rebuilt immediately on original foundations.This time the roof is tiled,
not thatched. Shakespeare retires to Stratford-upon-Avon.
*1616 - Shakespeare
dies.
*1642 - The Globe
is closed by the Puritans, so are all other playhouses in London.
*1644 -The Theater
is pulled down to build tenements and its foundations are buried.
*1550-1642 - There
were four theaters on Bankside - the Globe, the Rose, the Hope, the Swan,
and also several Bear-baiting and Bull-baiting amphitheatres. Over 15 venues
were available in London to hear a play.
2. The project to rebuild
the Globe – key dates:
*1949 -
Sam Wanamaker comes to
London and looks for evidence of the Globe. All he finds is a plaque on
a brewery wall.
*1969 -
Sam Wanamaker meets
Theo Crosby who was later to become the Globe project architect.
*1970 -
Sam Wanamaker establishes
the Globe Playhouse Trust with the central objective of raising funds to
rebuild the Globe.
Southwark Council offers
the Trust 1.2 acre site beside the River Thames, opposite St Paul's cathedral,
approximately 200 yards from the site of the original Globe.
*1972 -
The Bear Gardens Museum
opens, offering a permanent exhibition on 16th and 17th century theatre
history, lectures and workshops.
July: the first summer season
of productions was held within a canopied space behind the Bear Garden
site.
*1987 -
The site is cleared, ready
for ground-breaking ceremony in July attended by HRH the Prince Philip.
*1989 -
February : The remains of
the Rose are discovered
October : The remains of
the Globe are discovered
Creation of 6-meter deep
foundations and a diaphragm wall to contain seepage from tidal River Thames.
*1992 -
February: Creation of 18
six-meter high columns and a horizontal concrete raft (the Piazza) across
the columns.
March: using traditional
building materials and techniques, joiners start work on the first
two of the Globe's twenty sections or bays.
June 17th: HRH Prince Edward
formally unveils the two first bays of the Globe.
*1993 -
April: the original two
sections from June 1992 are reassembled in final position on Piazza, while
an additional pair of sections is raised on the Piazza.
*1994 -
April: HRH Prince Philip
unveils the four New Zealand Hangings. There are thirteen bays in situ.
Summer : the construction
of the Globe Theatre walls begins. It is the largest lime plastering project
in the UK.
The thatching of the theatre
begins - the Globe is the first building in central London to have a thatched
roof since the Great Fire of London, 1666. Extra fire precautions are taken.
The Shakespeare Globe Museum is replaced by
the Globe Education Centre.
The Exhibition opens on
the site of the Globe reconstruction.
September 12th: Theo Crosby,Globe
Architect, dies
* 1995 -
April : First International
Conference : "Within this Wooden 'O'". Two Leverhulme Fellows are appointed
to document experimenting at the Globe.
June : Mark Rylance
is appointed artistic director as of January 1996.
August to September 10th:
Workshop Season in substantially completed theatre (on a temporary stage)
A National Lottery funding
of £12.4 million is granted to the Trust to fund the completion of
Globe, foyer areas and ancillary facilities.
*1996 -
June: a new Exhibition opens
in the shell of the Inigo Jones Theatre
August 21st to September15th:
The Globe Prologue Season (The Two Gentlemen of Verona)
September 10 - 11: Second
International Conference : "Shakespeare and Tudor Theatrical Traditions"
*1997 -
February: Southwark Council
grants planning permission to Anchor Terrace owners for conversion into
luxury flats. No further archaeological digs of the original Globe will
be possible.
April 4th: the Opening Season
is launched in the unfinished Globe.
April - May: the Globe stage
is built, the Frons Scenae and Heavens are built then thatched and painted.
May 27th to September 21st:
the Globe Opening Season includes Shakespeare's Henry V and The Winter's
Tale, Middleton's A Chaste Maid in Cheapside and Beaumont and Fletcher's
The Maid's Tragedy.
June 12th: HM the Queen
and HRH the Prince Philip Patron of the Shakespeare Globe Trust, celebrate
the opening of the Globe Theatre.
*1998 -
June to September: the second
season, featuring Shakespeare's As You Like It and The Merchant of Venice,
Middleton's A Mad World, My Masters and Dekker's The Honest Whore, equals
the first in popular success.
*1999 -
Winter-Spring: Work begins
on the exhibition in the undercroft and on the Millennium footbridge (which
will link Bankside to Saint Paul's Cathedral and the City).
Various changes are made
to the stage and auditorium:
the bases of the pillars are reduced from squares
to octagons
the music room is extended forward
the balusters on the balcony and galleries
are painted in trompe l'oeil marble.
