y The Globe Theatre was the home of Shakespeare and his acting troupe. It was built in about 1598 in London’s Bankside district by Shakespeare’s theatre company, The Lord Chamberlain’s Men. It could hold up to 3,000 spectators.


y The sets were very simple, with little or nothing by way of effects, so it fell to the playwright to use words to create the images for the audience.


y In 1613, during a performance of Henry VIII, a misfired cannonball set the Globe on fire. In less than two hours it burned to the ground but fortunately many of the props and costumes were saved. The theatre was rebuilt the next year, this time with a tiled roof instead of a thatched one. The roof did not fully cover the theatre because plays took place during the day and depended on daylight for illumination.


Reconstruction of Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre y In 1644, the Puritans, a religious faction, demolished the theatre and built housing on the site.


y In 1997, a reconstruction of Shakespeare’s theatre, Shakespeare’s Globe, was built about 750 feet from the site of the original playhouse. The design is based on what is known of the 1598 and 1614 buildings.


Did you know?


y In 1572 in England, the Poor Law classed actors in the same category as vagabonds, rogues and wandering beggars.


y Actors had to be good, as audiences booed and hissed and even threw rotten vegetables at the stage if they didn’t like what they saw. Women did not act; their parts were taken by young boys whose voices had not yet broken. Many of these boy actors died of lead poisoning because of the lead in their make-up.


y There was no copyright; a play was produced as soon as it was written and would be attended by scribes, who would copy the play in order for it to be sold on to other theatre companies and shown elsewhere.


y There was very little rehearsal time and there were no breaks between scenes. y The majority of plays in the Globe were shown in the summer because the stage was open to the elements. y Elizabethans said, ‘I’m going to hear a play,’ as opposed to, ‘I’m going to see a play’.


Setting the scene


First performed in 1606 for the court of King James I, King Lear is one of Shakespeare’s ‘big four’ tragedies in which the principal character dies at the end. The others are Othello, Macbeth and Hamlet.


The story itself had existed in various forms for many years before Shakespeare wrote the play. In other versions, Cordelia and Lear survived and overthrew the evil sisters. Shakespeare took what he wanted from the original version but added his own twist, producing one of the most enduring tragedies ever written.


The plot of King Lear had a particular significance for Shakespeare’s audience, who feared civil war and unrest would come from a weak monarchy. England had recently experienced years of civil war and political turmoil, and the people worried about the future of their country when Queen Elizabeth I failed to produce an heir. The crisis was resolved in 1603 when she appointed James VI of Scotland as her successor. Their recent history had made it clear to the populace that strong, single leadership was essential to maintain peace and to stop various lords fighting amongst themselves, which would have weakened the country to the point where it would become an easy target for foreign invaders. It was Elizabeth’s strong leadership that had saved them from an attempted Spanish invasion in 1588 and the memory of that was fresh in the minds of the people. They would have been horrified at Lear’s plan to divide his kingdom and appalled at his poor judgement in selecting Goneril and Regan over Cordelia.


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