Globe Theatre was an early open-air English theater in London. Most of the great English playwright William Shakespeare’s plays were first presented at the Globe. The brothers Cuthbert and Richard Burbage constructed the theater in 1599 from the timbers of London’s first playhouse, called The Theatre. They erected the Globe in the area known as the Bankside on the south side of the River Thames in the suburb of Southwark. Shakespeare owned a modest percentage of the theater and its operations.
Little is known about the Globe’s design except what can be learned from maps and evidence from the plays presented there. The Globe was round or polygonal on the outside and probably round on the inside. The theater may have held as many as 3,000 spectators. Its stage occupied the open-air space, with a pit in front for standing viewers. The stage was surrounded by several levels of seating. In 1613, the Globe burned down. It was rebuilt on the same foundation and reopened in 1614. The Globe was shut down in 1642 and torn down in 1644. A reconstruction of the theater was completed 200 yards (183 meters) from the original site in 1996, and it officially opened in 1997.
