The Globe Theater
Globe Theaters were a popular source of entertainment in the Elizabethan period. Play-goerswere thrilled by the excitement and unexpected in Shakespeare's plays that helped to ease thestress of everyday life. Plays were performed at theaters across Europe, but probably the mostfamous playhouse of the Elizabethan period was London's Globe Theater. The Globe Theater wasa building with a unique history that presented Shakespeare's plays to a variety of people until itsdestruction and the closure of the theaters by the Puritans in the mid-sixteen hundreds. James Burbage, a famous architect and actor of the time, built the first playhouse in 1576named the Theatre that comes from the Greek word theatron meaning viewing place (Chrisp9).The Theatre was located in Shoreditch about a mile north of London (Allison 19). The land onwhich the Theatre stood was rented from a man named Giles Allen. James Burbage and GilesAllen had agreed to a twenty one year lease on the land, but when the lease expired in April of1597, the Burbage's faced major problems. Giles Allen wanted the Burbages to pay a vast amountof money to renew the lease, but with the death of James Burbage in February of 1597, his sons
With the new Globe Theater, Shakespeare's plays can once againbe a popular source of entertainment to those in the twenty first century just as it was long ago. ThePuritans, Christians that believed worldly things were sinful, were against theaters being locatedinside the city limits of London and required them to be built outside of the city (Chrisp 14). Some famousmembers of the Lord Chamberlain's Men were the Burbage brothers, Will Kemp, and WilliamShakespeare (Chrisp 13). This was the place where peoplewho wanted to be noticed and admired sat during the play (Morley 33). There were no tickets so it was a good idea to get to the theater earlyin order to get a good seat (Morley 32). When one of the Burbagebrothers, playing King Henry VIII, came onstage, a cannon was fired to signal his entry. Before 1594, plays did not begin until after evening prayer, which occurred after fouro'clock in the afternoon. Henry V is believed to have been the very first play everperformed at the original Globe Theater (Doyle 332). People of this time period carried their money in pursestied closed with drawstrings. Therelocated theater was renamed the Globe Theater which meant "There is nothing in the wholeround world this theater can not set before your eyes (Constabile). They had to beescorted by a man if they desired to see the play (Constabile). The people thatinvested in the theater became known as Lord Chamberlain's Men. With their support, the theater was able to thrive and become asignificant part of everyday entertainment. The Globe was an open-air octagonal amphitheater that could seat up tothree thousand spectators. When the play-goers arrived at the theater, a penny waspaid just to enter the theater, but if you wanted to sit down, it cost another penny at the stairsleading to the galleries.
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Acceptance Essays
