shakespeare blog

1. What was the name of the company Shakespeare belonged to ?

Lord Chamberlain's Men

2. How many companies were licensed to perform in London ?

They are two.

3. Why did Shakespeare's company build the Globe ?

Because they couldn't use the special playhouse that their chief actor Richard Burbage's father had built for them in 1596, a roofed theatre inside the city, in Blackfriars.

4. What did Shakespeare's company use to build the Globe ?

Without The Theatre, the company had to rent a playhouse. Then at the end of 1598 they decided to build one for themselves. The shortage of cash made the consortium reluctant traditionalists, giving up the idea of an indoor theatre in the city and using the old Theatre's timbers and therefore the same basic auditorium shape for the new building. The old playhouse was one of their few remaining resources. They could not use it in situ because the lease had expired, so they dismantled it and took the timbers (illegally) to make the skeleton of their new amphitheatre. The Globe was a cut-price and fortuitous construction.

5. Who built the Globe ?

Two brothers build the globe. Their names are Richard and Cuthbert Burbage.

6. When the Globe was built , there were two other theatres in Southwark already. Which ones ?

That the Swan and the Rose.

7. When was it built ?

It was built in 1599.

8. How and when was it destroyed ?

In 1613, the roof was accidentally set on fire by a cannon during a performance of Henry VIII. The entire theatre burned in about an hour. The Globe was rebuilt a year later, but with a tilted gallery roof and more circular in shape. In 1644, 30 years after it was rebuilt, the Globe was torn down.

9. When was it rebuilt ?

By June 1614 it had been rebuilt, this time with a tiled gallery roof and a circular shape.

10. When was it finally pulled down ? Why ?

It was pulled down in 1644, two years after the Puritans closed all theatres, to make way for tenement dwellings.

11. Explain how acting at the Globe was like.

Acting at the Globe was radically different from viewing modern Shakespeare on screen.
The plays were staged in the afternoons, using the light of day. Therefore, all references to weather or time of the day had to be given to the audience through the text.
The audience surrounded the stage on all sides. No scenery was used, except for occasional emblematic devices like a throne or a bed. It was almost impossible not to see the other half of the audience standing behind the players. Consequently much of the staging was metatheatrical, conceding the illusory nature of the game of playing, and making little pretense to stage realism .

12. Complete this chart :

-THEATRE The Rose and the Fortune the Theatre and The Globe
-COMPANY LORD ALMIRAL'S MEN LORD CHAMBERLAIN'S MEN
-PLAYWRITER Christopher Marlowe William Shakespeare
-MAIN ACTOR Edward Alleyn Richard Burbage
-MANAGER Philip Henslowe The Burbages
-PATRON Lord Charles Howard Lord Chamberlain

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJM8S1h2GiY