London Diaries (7) : Shakespeare’s Globe !

London is a mecca for theater lovers and The Globe is a pilgrimage all Shakespeare theater lovers must make ! As an ardent literature and theater fan,The Globe for me was a must visit! The original Globe Theater was built by Shakespeare’s theater company to stage his plays. It was destroyed in the Great London fire. The current theater is built almost as a replica of the theater in Shakespeare’s time. The original structure was made entirely of wood and had a thatched roof. The city of London has very stringent fire - safety rules and the Globe theater is the only structure with a thatched roof that is allowed in London.

As soon as you enter the theater you feel as if you have been transported back to Shakespeare`s London. There is the stage – made of wood,bright colorful and with an old world charm. Nowadays they have mikes installed on it but in the olden times the artists performed there without the help of mikes and they still managed to ensure that their voice reached the last benches ! Then there is the `pit` a standing room only area just below the stage where in the olden times the common man would stand and see the plays – which often ran for hours at a time. The sitting area behind the pit comprises of wooden benches.

Even now people buy tickets to see theater in the traditional manner by standing in the pit as commoners or by sitting on those hard wooden benches. The tickets for the plays at the Globe get sold out almost immediately. I was in London for about three weeks and I tried desperately to get a ticket to see a play at the globe but I was not successful – I couldn’t even get tickets to stand in the pit !


Here are a few snaps that I clicked

The Stage

The wodden benches, the area where the lady is standing is the Pit



Juliet`s balcony - for the staging of romeo and Juliet !

The Globe Theater