The Building of the New Globe TheatreFriday, April 16, 2010 / 2:49 AM
Today we have a magnificent replica of Shakespeare's old Globe Theatre only constructed with more modern technology and knowledge. We enjoy the luxuries of Shakespeare's plays in a replicated environment of the first Globe, yet do we know how the Globe Theatre was reconstructed when all the designs and evidence have been buried for 350 years?
In 1997, the Globe theatre was finally brought back from the past and inaugurated nearly 350 years after Shakespeare's original was demolished by the Puritans. It was the inspiration and determination of an American actor and director, by the name of Sam Wanamaker that initiated and completed the reconstruction of the Globe Theare only two hundred metres from the site of the original Globe Theare.
In 1949, an American actor, Sam Wanamaker visited London in search of information on the history of the Globe Theatre. He was appalled to find only a treivial plaque stuck on the wall of the brewery standing on the site. It was the only remembrance of the once grandiose theatre. He was shocked that Shakespeare's contributions to entertaintment were simply forgotten and set himself a monstrous task to remind the public of Shakespeare by resurrecting the Globe Theatre. Sam was determined and moved to England to make his dream a reality.
Although Sam was delighted to find that many supported his idea, he was quick to realise that to generate the money, required for the massive project, was quite impossible. Over the last few decades of his life, Sam continuously campaigned for the reconstruction of the Globe Theatre. Progress was slow but he eventually founded the Globe Playhouse Trust in the 1970s which assisted in generating money. The actualy construction did not begin until the 1980s, 30 years after Sam first came up with the idea.
As if to make Shakespeare's plays more realistic, traditional or olden building materials and techniques of the Elizabethan era were employed during the construction but with modern insurances. However the theatre's thatched roof was coated with fire-protective liquid as precaution to prevent the disaster of the first Globe. Furthermore, houses built in London since the Great Fire never again had thatched roofs. The outer skin of the theatre is coated from a mixture of gait hair and plaster. The entire complex comprises of a shop, riverside pub, educational blocks, and a piazza that overlooks the Thames River and of course the theatre itself. The stage's back wall is elaborately carved and designed in an early classical style with 3 exits or entrances while 3 oak pillars were painted to resemble marble support the heavens (a painted canopy over the stage). All the attributes would have been exactly the same as the craftmen of the Elizabethan period would have constructed it.
After all the tenacious and rough years of work and campaigning, it is unfortunate that Sam was not able to witness the completion of a new, faulous building that is unique and means so much to everyone in the world. And so the Globe theatre stands again when it has fallen down so many times before. We must remember Sam Wanamaker for the glorious monument he has given us all and think of it as a souvenir from him.
