Globe Theater

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Globe Theater

• Globe diagram overview

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This is one artists sketch of the Globe Theatre

• one of the first established theatres in London
• built in 1599 by Richard and Cuthbert Burbage
• Lord Chamberlains Men - an acting company that
  played there for profit

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1. The Lords Rooms

• Private box seats
• Nobles seated close to stage, partly to see,
  partly to be seen
• 6 pence admission fee
• Cushions on the seats

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2. The Balcony

• Upper-level stage area
• Scenes such as balconies, towers, battlements of
  the castle, heights of a mountainside
• Could be sold as high priced seats if
  not needed for the play

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3. Inner Stage

• Behind a curtain
• Could stage a tomb, a cave, an adjacent room

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4. Thrust Stage

• About 50 ft wide, 5 ft high, 20 ft deep
• Juts out into the audience so action can be
  viewed from three sides
• Trap door in floor led to space below

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5. Pit or Yard

• Open area for audience to stand and watch the
  play
• Cost 1 pence admission fee
• Open roof allowed weather in from above
• These viewers called groundlings
• Smelly, packed, dirty

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6. Hell

• Space below the raised, thrust stage
• Storage room for large props
• Characters could ascend/descend through the trap
  door for ghost, cemetery, etc. scenes

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7. The Tiring Room

• Backstage area
• Like a modern day green room
• Actors waited for their next scene, obtained
  needed props, changed dress, fixed makeup/wigs

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8. The Gallery

• Highest balcony area over the stage
• Musicians/singers performed from this area

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9. Hut

• Storage area over the stage
• Sound effects made here
• Pulley/wench system for lowering actors down
  through the roof over the stage

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10. White Flag

• Flown on days a play was going to be presented

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11. Heavens

• Solid covering over the stage area to keep actors
  dry
• Painted with symbols of zodiac, sun, moon, stars
• Trapdoor leading to the hut

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12. Wardrobe

• Safe storage for expensive, elaborate costumes
• Protected from weather and thieves

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Seating galleries

• Bench seats cost 2 pence for admission
• an extra pence would rent you a cushion
• protected from bad weather
• Good view of the stage

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