Top Banner
1 Shakespeare’s Globe Press Pack, 2012 In the same year that Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II celebrates sixty years on the throne with the Diamond Jubilee celebrations, and the world looks to London as it hosts the Olympic and Paralympic Games, Shakespeare’s Globe embarks upon its most ambitious and exciting year yet. The Globe is one of the most popular visitor destinations in the UK at the heart of the regeneration of London’s Bankside. The Globe has always been an international story, the vision of an American, it welcomes international audiences into its oak embrace. It has also sought to take the Globe’s work back out into the world through international touring and education programmes. William Shakespeare’s plays, many of which were originally written and performed on Bankside, have travelled the world in translation, performance and education. This year, the Globe will welcome 37 theatre companies from around the world to perform each of his plays at Shakespeare’s Globe on Bankside, in their own language as part of the Globe to Globe Festival. The festival will be followed by The Play’s The Thing theatre season which will welcome award-winning actor Mark Rylance back to the Globe stage to take on two of Shakespeare’s major characters the title role in a new production of Richard III and a reprisal of his widely celebrated performance of Olivia in Twelfth Night, 10 years after its premiere; both of which will be staged as all-male ‘Original Practice1 productions. The Globe’s main house programme is completed with Henry V and a new production of The Taming of the Shrew. 2012 is also a significant year for the future of the Globe, with building work progressing on the recreation of an Indoor Jacobean Theatre next to the outdoor Elizabethan Globe, which is set to open in 2013. This press pack contains background information on Shakespeare’s Globe, from the original Globe in 1599, up to the reconstruction of the present day Globe, which opened in 1997, as well as information on what’s happening at the Globe in 2012. The press office has prepared international feature and interview ideas, included in this pack. Country specific ideas for Germany, France, Italy, Spain, USA, Australia, UAE, Brazil, India, China and New Zealand are available from the press office. If you need further information please contact Louise Gilbert, Press & PR Officer 2012 at Shakespeare’s Globe on +44 207 902 1476 or e-mail [email protected] 1 Original Practice productions use practices employed in Shakespeare ’s time, when creating costumes, sets, music and dance. The cast is all-male.
22

603948

Mar 10, 2016

Download

Documents

Dragos Badea

http://www.shakespearesglobe.com/uploads/ffiles/2012/05/603948.pdf
Welcome message from author
This document is posted to help you gain knowledge. Please leave a comment to let me know what you think about it! Share it to your friends and learn new things together.
Transcript
Page 1: /603948

1

Shakespeare’s Globe Press Pack, 2012

In the same year that Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II celebrates sixty years on the throne with the Diamond Jubilee celebrations, and the world looks to London as it hosts the Olympic and Paralympic Games, Shakespeare’s Globe embarks upon its most ambitious and exciting year yet.

The Globe is one of the most popular visitor destinations in the UK at the heart of the regeneration of London’s Bankside. The Globe has always been an international story, the vision of an American, it welcomes international audiences into its oak embrace. It has also sought to take the Globe’s work back out into the world through international touring and education programmes.

William Shakespeare’s plays, many of which were originally written and performed on Bankside, have travelled the world in translation, performance and education. This year, the Globe will welcome 37 theatre companies from around the world to perform each of his plays at Shakespeare’s Globe on Bankside, in their own language as part of the Globe to Globe Festival. The festival will be followed by The Play’s The Thing theatre season which will welcome award-winning actor Mark Rylance back to the Globe stage to take on two of Shakespeare’s major characters – the title role in a new production of Richard III and a reprisal of his widely celebrated performance of Olivia in Twelfth Night, 10 years after its premiere; both of which will be staged as all-male ‘Original Practice’1 productions. The Globe’s main house programme is completed with Henry V and a new production of The Taming of the Shrew. 2012 is also a significant year for the future of the Globe, with building work progressing on the recreation of an Indoor Jacobean Theatre next to the outdoor Elizabethan Globe, which is set to open in 2013.

This press pack contains background information on Shakespeare’s Globe, from the original Globe in 1599, up to the reconstruction of the present day Globe, which opened in 1997, as well as information on what’s happening at the Globe in 2012.

The press office has prepared international feature and interview ideas, included in this pack. Country specific ideas for Germany, France, Italy, Spain, USA, Australia, UAE, Brazil, India, China and New Zealand are available from the press office. If you need further information please contact Louise Gilbert, Press & PR Officer 2012 at Shakespeare’s Globe on +44 207 902 1476 or e-mail [email protected]

1Original Practice productions use practices employed in Shakespeare ’s time, when creating costumes, sets, music and dance. The cast is all-male.

Page 2: /603948

2

Contents Page

2012 at the Globe Globe to Globe Festival 3 The Play’s The Thing theatre season 3 Globe productions on tour 4 Globe Education events 2012 4 The Indoor Jacobean Theatre 5 Exhibition & Tour 6 Globe Shop 6 Access at the Globe 6 The Swan 7

International feature and interview ideas 7

Background information Funding and Development 15 The Theatre Season 16 ‘Authenticity’ 16 Shakespeare’s contemporaries and new plays 16 International productions 16 South Bank and Bankside 17 Bankside – a brief history 17 The first Globe 17 Shakespeare in London 18 Sam Wanamaker - rebuilding Shakespeare’s Globe 19 Did you know? Interesting facts about Shakespeare and the Globe 20 Press office contacts and information Press releases 21 Press image and film library 21 Filming at the Globe 22 Contact the press office 22 Notes to editors 22

Page 3: /603948

3

Globe to Globe Festival, 21 April – 7 June

Beginning on 21 April 2012, the Globe is proud to present an unprecedented programme of multi-lingual Shakespeare productions as part of a once-in-a-lifetime celebration for the London 2012 festival. Reveling in the vast array of communities and languages that make-up London's vibrant cultural landscape, 37 international companies will present every one of Shakespeare's plays in a different language over six weeks.

For detailed information on the Globe to Globe Festival, please see.

The Play’s The Thing theatre season, 7 June – 14 October

Artistic Director Dominic Dromgoole and Shakespeare’s Globe welcomes back multi award-winning actor Mark Rylance to perform in its 2012 Theatre Season The Play’s The Thing. This will be the first time that Rylance has returned to the Globe stage since his tenure as Artistic Director between 1995 and 2005. The main theatre season, which begins on 7 June 2012, follows hot on the heels of the ambitious Globe to Globe festival. Launching with Dominic Dromgoole’s new production of Henry V, the season will see Rylance – who recently played Johnny ‘Rooster’ Byron in Jerusalem in the West End and on Broadway – take on two of Shakespeare’s major characters – the title role in a new production of Richard III and a reprisal of his widely celebrated performance of Olivia in Twelfth Night, 10 years after its premiere, both of which will be staged as ‘original practices’ productions. The Globe’s main house programme is completed by a new production of The Taming of the Shrew. Artistic Director Dominic Dromgoole commented: “It was the Globe's greatest stroke of good fortune to have Mark as its first Artistic Director – an actor of great distinction, and a leader of rare imagination. No-one has contributed more to the success of the Globe than Mark, and we all – actors, artists and audiences – play happily within the conditions he created. It is our further great good luck that he is returning, with his Original Practices team, to play in the Globe again. It will be a fitting climax to an extraordinary summer which begins with our unprecedented Globe to Globe festival.” Richard III and Twelfth Night will be directed by Tim Carroll, designed by Jenny Tiramani with music by Claire van Kampen – the creative team behind the original 2002 version of Twelfth Night. Performed in repertory by an all-male cast – many of whom will be new to these 2012 productions – the original practices approach to staging will employ recreated clothing, music and dance. Twelfth Night and Richard III will be a co-production between Shakespeare’s Globe, Sonia Friedman Productions and Shakespeare Road.

The play believed to have opened the first Globe, Henry V, will close the Globe to Globe Festival and launch the main 2012 theatre season in June. In continuation of the 2010 productions of Henry IV Parts 1 and 2, Henry V will be directed by Artistic Director Dominic Dromgoole with Jamie Parker in the title role. Much loved for his performance as Prince Hal two years ago, Parker (one of the original History Boys) returns to the character, once known for his wild and youthful antics with Falstaff, to chart his journey into a mature man embarking on a successful conquest of France. Completing the in-house 2012 theatre season will be a new production of The Taming of the Shrew, Shakespeare’s most outrageous comedy, directed by Toby Frow. Tickets are £5 - £39 and can be booked by calling + 44 207 401 9919 or visiting www.shakespearesglobe.com

Page 4: /603948

4

Globe productions on tour In 2007, the first tour in 400 years left Shakespeare’s Globe for historic houses and outdoor venues throughout the country with a production of Romeo and Juliet. An international tour of the production followed, and since, the Globe Theatre Company has taken a number of its productions abroad to the USA, Poland and Denmark.

Following the Globe’s success at the recent Theatre Awards UK, at which it won the Renee Stepham Award for Best Presentation of Touring Theatre, the Globe is pleased to be touring four productions in 2012. Howard Brenton’s Anne Boleyn, which achieved 98% of full capacity attendance at the Globe last summer and received the 2011 Whatsonstage Award for Best New Play will visit Cambridge, Birmingham, Blackpool, Brighton, Truro, Darlington, Malvern, Bath and Edinburgh between March and May 2012, in partnership with English Touring Theatre and supported by Arts Council England. Before its arrival at the Globe, Dominic Dromgoole’s production of Henry V will visit Liverpool, Cardiff, Oxford, Bath, Cambridge and Salisbury between April and June 2012. The Globe will continue its popular tradition of small-scale touring with revivals of its 2011 productions of Hamlet and As You Like It. These two tours, which operate without the assistance of public subsidy, will visit beautiful open-air settings across the UK and Europe throughout the summer. The full tour schedule to follow and available at www.shakespearesglobe.com/aboutus/press

Globe Education events 2012 Shakespeare Found in Translation is Globe Education’s season of special events running from 5 February to 29 May 2012 which will explore Shakespeare as a global playwright. The season supports the Globe to Globe Festival, which will see 37 international companies present all of Shakespeare's plays and Venus and Adonis, Shakespeare’s great narrative poem performed on the Globe stage in a different language over six weeks. The Shakespeare Found in Translation season will celebrate the rich artistic connections that the works of William Shakespeare have fostered around the world. A series of public lectures in April and May will examine the work of translators and intercultural theatre practitioners tackling the Shakespeare canon and follow the process of translating the language of Shakespeare into different tongues: Mandarin (29 April), Arabic (5 May), Polish (9 May), the languages of the Balkans (12 May), Mexican Spanish (14 May), British Sign Language (23 May), Yoruba (25 May) and Hebrew (29 May). The series begins on 18 April with a lecture entitled Shakespeare Found in Translation by acclaimed Danish author and translator Niels Brunse. For further details about events in the Shakespeare Found in Translation season, please visit the Globe Education website at www.shakespearesglobe.com/education This season will be followed by Merry Meetings running until October 2012. Events include Setting the Scene lectures take place on selected Tuesday and Thursdays throughout the theatre season. Delivered by leading Shakespeare scholars and illustrated by a Globe actor, they provide a fascinating introduction to the evening play.

Read Not Dead ‘performances with scripts’ breathe new life into the plays written by Shakespeare’s contemporaries between 1576 and 1642 – a time that would have been a “Golden Age” of British theatre even without the works of William Shakespeare. In summer 2012, the series continues with performances of original source plays that inspired

Page 5: /603948

5

Shakespeare to write some of his greatest works. Read Not Dead readings take place on selected Sundays throughout the summer. Saturday Study Sessions provide a comprehensive exploration of the theatrical and scholarly perspectives on the plays of the theatre season. These sessions are led by leading directors, practitioners and scholars and are designed so that participants can choose to journey through the plays in a variety of ways; opting for either an “active learning” or “formal learning” approach. Perspectives events give a detailed behind the scenes insight into the journeys, discoveries and understandings of the plays of the season from the leading actors, creatives and acedemics that are at the heart of the Globe’s “theate making” process; helping to take a production from page to the Globe stage.

Talking Theatre post show discussions give audiences the chance to meet the cast and creative teams from the theatre season. Talking Theatre sessions take place on selected Wednesdays and Saturdays, 20 minutes after the matinee performance.

The Indoor Jacobean Theatre The Globe’s plans to introduce an Indoor Jacobean Theatre to its already world-famous theatre site on London’s Bankside will be the most complete recreation of an English renaissance indoor theatre yet attempted. It will seat 320 people with two tiers of galleried seating and an historical pit seating area, which will provide a uniquely intimate and intense theatre experience. The theatre will allow productions to play throughout the winter, widening the Globe’s repertoire and further completing the understanding of the nature of Jacobean theatre. The Globe intends to open the theatre with its first, programmed winter season in November 2013 and will be an exciting addition to London Theatre. Some of Shakespeare’s greatest plays – The Tempest, Cymbeline and The Winter’s Tale – were written for an entirely different space to the outdoor Elizabethan playhouses like the Globe Theatre. By restoring the Indoor Jacobean Theatre to its intended purpose, the Globe will be able to further its understanding of theatre practices at that time and explore the unique relationship between actor and audience in England’s earliest indoor theatres.

Globe Education has an excellent in-house academic department which leads the research for the theatre. The findings and advice from the in-house team, led by Dr Farah Karim-Cooper, Head of Research & Courses, is critical to the project.

Shakespeare’s Globe is currently fundraising for the Indoor Jacobean Theatre, with a view to begin construction work in November 2012, and launch the theatre, with a first winter season in 2013. Shakespeare’s Globe recently announced the gift of £1.5 million from an anonymous private donor for a matched-giving scheme to help the Globe reach its fund-raising target of £7 million towards the new Indoor Jacobean Theatre. For every pound raised by the Globe, it will be matched from the £1.5 million pool, bring the fund-raising total to £4.5 million. Shakespeare’s Globe is a charitable trust which receives no annual government subsidy and is wholly reliant on the income it generates from admission charges, commercial activity and private fundraising.Donations can be made online, at the Globe, or via post or phone, and the Name-A-Seat campaign to raise funds for the Indoor Jacobean Theatre continues. To find out more about making a donation, visit shakespearesglobe.com/support-us or contact

Page 6: /603948

6

the campaign office on +44 207 902 1457.

Exhibition & Tour

Globe Exhibition and Tour run an extensive programme of events throughout the year, offering visitors a chance to explore the world that Shakespeare lived and worked in as well as taking a guided tour of the theatre.

Situated underneath the Globe Theatre, Globe Exhibition explores the rich story of the Globe and brings Shakespeare’s world to life through the use of modern technology and traditional crafts. Visitors journey through interactive displays, exploring areas of costume, music and special effects. Also included with the exhibition ticket is a tour of the Globe Theatre. The Guide-storytellers take visitors on a half-hour tour of the auditorium, presenting stories of the 1599 Globe and the reconstruction process in the 1990s, and of how the ‘wooden O’ works as an imaginative and experimental space today.

Tours begin every 15-30 minutes, and are in English. Complimentary information sheets in French, German, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Japanese, Chinese, Dutch, Russian and Polish are available to assist non-English-speakers. The exhibition offers audio guides to enhance the visitor experience. The audio tour is available to every visitor in English, French, German, Spanish, Japanese and Italian. Globe Shop

Shakespeare’s Globe Shop is open to the public daily between 10am to 6pm and offers a vast selection of merchandise relating to one of Britain’s most loved playwrights. The shop’s fresh approach to design ensures that the products on sale are exclusive to the Globe and specially commissioned ranges offer customers modern interpretations that celebrate some of the best known lines ever written. Shakespeare's Globe is a registered charity and all profits from sales go towards supporting the Globe’s educational mission. Items can be bought at the onsite shop or online at www.shakespearesglobe.com/shop

Access at the Globe

Shakespeare’s Globe aims to be welcoming and accessible to all and is dedicated to updating and improving facilities for people with disabilities. The Globe offers assisted performances (audio-described, signed and captioned performances) throughout the theatre season, as well as providing access provisions in the Exhibition, Shop, Bar and Restaurant. A dedicated Access Information Line operates from 10am-5pm, Monday to Friday, offering advice on specialised services for disabled people at Shakespeare's Globe.

Access Information Line Telephone: 020 7902 1409 Email: access@shakespearesglobe

Page 7: /603948

7

Access listings 2012

Henry V British Sign Language: 1 July, 13:00 Audio-Described: 8 July, 13:00 Captioned: 19 August, 13:00

The Taming of the Shrew British Sign Language: 21 July, 14:00 Audio-Described: 8 September, 14:00 Captioned: 14:00

Richard III British Sign Language: 2 September, 13:00 Audio-Described: 29 September, 14:00 Captioned: 6 October, 14:00

The Swan Swan Bar at Shakespeare’s Globe (1st level) offers the perfect place to relax and enjoy signature cocktails, local beverages and seasonal sharing platters. Just a stone’s throw away from Borough Market, Southbank, London Bridge and The City, with unsurpassed views of the river Thames and St Pauls Cathedral. The Swan, decorated with vintage design pieces, is a comfortable space to enjoy breakfast, a light lunch or afternoon tea.

Swan Restaurant at Shakespeare’s Globe (2nd level) is a year-round eating destination in the heart of London serving food sourced from the finest suppliers in the UK, prepared by a talented and dedicated team. Seasonal menu’s reflect the Swan’s signature modern British style with high quality service at excellent value.

International feature ideas

Below is a list of international feature and interview ideas. The press office has also prepared country specific ideas for Germany, France, Italy, Spain, USA, Australia, UAE, Brazil, India, China and New Zealand. They can be found at http://www.shakespearesglobe.com/about-us/press 1. Interview a Globe actor about their pre-show rituals and find out how they physically and psychologically prepare to step into character.

As the Olympic and Paralympic Games move ever closer, athletes will have their pre-competition rituals to help take their game to the next level. This summer, while athletes are warming up for one of the most important performances of their career, actors across London will be doing precisely the same in the world of theatre. It’s often surprising how actors chose to warm up physically and psychologically before taking to the stage to ensure give the audience a compelling and memorable performance. If you would like to talk to a Globe actor about their rituals and preparations and how they compare it to that of an athlete, please contact the press office.

2. The Indoor Jacobean Theatre project.

The Globe’s plans to introduce an Indoor Jacobean Theatre to its already world-famous theatre site on London’s Bankside will be the most complete recreation of an English renaissance indoor theatre yet attempted. It will seat 320 people with two tiers of galleried seating and an historical pit seating area, which will provide a uniquely intimate and intense theatre experience. The theatre will allow productions to play throughout the winter, widening

Page 8: /603948

8

the Globe’s repertoire and further completing the understanding of the nature of Jacobean theatre. The Globe intends to open the theatre with its first, programmed winter season in November 2013 and will be an exciting addition to London Theatre. Some of Shakespeare’s greatest plays – The Tempest, Cymbeline and The Winter’s Tale – were written for an entirely different space to the outdoor Elizabethan playhouses like the Globe Theatre. By restoring the Indoor Jacobean Theatre to its intended purpose, the Globe will be able to further its understanding of theatre practices at that time and explore the unique relationship between actor and audience in England’s earliest indoor theatres.

Globe Education has an excellent in-house academic department which leads the research for the theatre. The findings and advice from the in-house team, led by Dr Farah Karim-Cooper, Head of Research & Courses, is critical to the project.

3. Shakespeare’s Globe – its influence on theatre practice and the unique audience experience it offers. What was it like to experience London theatre in the 1600s? How does the open air and shared light affect actors’ performances and the audience’s experiences today? How does the space challenge a modern day director? What is it like to stand in the yard to watch a performance? How does it feel for audiences to interact with the actors?

The Globe offers something completely unique for directors, actors and audiences alike. Not only is it an inspiring and distinctive theatrical space, but also a top London tourist attraction, welcoming hundreds of thousands of international visitors every year. What makes the Globe so distinct and successful? Interviews with theatre practitioners are available upon request.

4. Globe Education. A world-class learning resource for students from around the world. Each year more than 100,000 people of all ages and nationalities participate in Globe Education’s programme of events, workshops and courses lead by top theatre practitioners and Shakespeare scholars. Globe Education believes that the best way to learn about the works of Shakespeare is by enjoying them, and have created playful and play-filled ways to experience Shakespeare in action.

Interviews with Patrick Spottiswoode (Director, Education), Jamie Arden (Head of Operations & Events), Dr Farah Karim-Cooper (Head of Courses & Research) and Fiona Banks (Head of Learning) are available upon request.

5. Shakespeare’s Globe and Royalty in 2012.

The eyes of the world are on London throughout 2012 - the year Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II celebrates her Diamond Jubilee and the city plays host to the Olympic and Paralympic Games. On the 3rd June 2012 Shakespeare’s Globe will have a front row seat when Her Majesty the Queen’s celebratory river pageant sails up the River Thames. The historical event will take place during the international Globe to Globe Festival, with a Lithuanian production of Hamlet.

Her Majesty The Queen and His Royal Highness Prince Philip attended the Royal Gala opening of the Globe on 12th June 1997. Prince Philip opened the Sackler Studios – Globe Education’s Education and Resource centre in November 2010 and recently attended an event at Buckingham Palace held to raise funds for the development of the Indoor Jacobean Theatre.

Page 9: /603948

9

His Royal Highness Prince Philip The Duke of Edinburgh is Patron of Shakespeare’s Globe. 6. Talk to the Globe’s leading creatives about the Globe to Globe Festival.

Artistic Director, Dominic Dromgoole and Festival Director, Tom Bird, are available to discuss the Globe to Globe Festival which plays from 23rd April to 9th June 2012 and welcomes 36 international theatre companies to the Globe. One of the most ambitious Shakespeare Festivals of all time, all 37 Shakespeare plays will be performed in 37 languages in just six weeks, forming a wonderful celebration of London’s Olympic year and the world’s love for Shakespeare’s work. Dominic and Tom also offer the chance to talk about the Globe in general. 7. London and Shakespeare’s Globe – the perfect learning holiday destination. As learning holidays become more popular than ever, London and Shakespeare’s Globe offer the ideal combination of enjoyment and education. For those interested in history, literature, performance, architecture, costume or Shakespeare himself, the Globe is an inspiring setting to explore and learn during a visit to London. The Globe’s expert tour guides provide a fascinating tour of the iconic theatre and auditorium and bring to life colourful stories of the 1599 Globe, while the exhibition presents live demonstrations of sword-fighting, costume dressings and printing on 17th Century press. The audio guide enhances the visitor experience with six languages available – French, Italian, German, Spanish, English and Japanese. Situated on Bankside along the River Thames with beautiful views looking towards St Paul’s Cathedral, the Globe also has a reputation for being one of the most romantic places to visit in London. 8. Shakespeare’s Globe – a unique architectural experiment and an iconic London landmark.

McCurdy & Co. were closely involved in the authentic reconstruction of Shakespeare's original 'wooden O', carrying out much of the early research and analysis together with the detailed design and fabrication of the entire oak frame. As there were no building records in existence the Globe team had to rely on historic reference material, Peter McCurdy's own knowledge of carpentry methodology of the period and analysis of the relevant contemporary buildings to help determine the overall design.

Peter is currently working with the Architecture Research Group on the development of the Indoor Jacobean Theatre, which is set to open on site in 2013. Peter will advise on reconstruction issues and how they relate to achieving a faithful Jacobean interior, and to ensure that a successful fusion of modern codes and licensing requirements with historical accuracy can be achieved.

Since opening in 1997, Shakespeare’s Globe has become an iconic landmark of international recognition and its distinctive performance space offers audiences and actors an experience like no other. If you would like to speak to Peter McCurdy about the part he played in bringing the building to fruition and his work on the Indoor Jacobean Theatre, please contact the press office. International interview ideas

1. Dr Farah Karim-Cooper, the Globe’s Head of Research & Courses grew up in Texas, USA. Farah oversees all research activity and chairs the Globe Architecture Research Group, who are currently working on the design brief and historical research of a 320 seat Indoor Jacobean Theatre onsite, set to open in 2013. Farah recently extended Globe Education’s

Page 10: /603948

10

higher education programme to the doctoral level by bringing into the organisation two Collaborative Doctoral Award students, researching theatre space and audiences, both of whom completed in January 2012. She is also a Visiting Research Fellow of King’s College London and co-convenes the Globe/King’s MA in Shakespearean Studies: Text and Playhouse. In addition to publishing articles and essays in books, her first monograph Cosmetics in Shakespearean and Renaissance Drama was published in 2006.

Q&A with Dr Farah Karim-Cooper

What are the highlights of your job? One of the major highlights is being able to work with and share my research with a wide range of audiences: actors, educators, architects as well as students. Another highlight is being involved in the Indoor Theatre project - it is very exciting to sit in the meetings with Globe executives, architects, academics and work collaboratively to re-create another dynamic Shakespearean theatre space. What has been your most memorable moment working at the Globe? Every day it is so different and so memorable. But perhaps the most memorable moment was going to the workshop of McCurdy & Co. for the first time, the timber specialists who built the Globe. To see where the Globe was framed and to meet some of the people whose hands brought it to life was inspiring and nothing short of magical. What are you looking forward to in the future of the Globe? I'm genuinely looking forward to attending plays in the new Indoor Jacobean Theatre space and seeing the completion of our state-of-the-art Library and Archive. 2. Eva Koch-Schulte, Associate Producer in the Theatre department. Eva was born and raised in Bad Driburg, Germany. Eva’s fist role at the Globe was as an Education Intern in 1998. After studying her Masters Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany, she returned to the Globe as Theatre and Music Assistant then Music Producer. Eva is now Associate Producer in the Theatre department.

Q&A with Eva Koch-Schulte Tell us about your role in the Theatre department at Shakespeare’s Globe.

As Associate Producer I am involved in planning and setting up our theatre shows, tours and special events. I spend much time with paperwork like contracts, schedules, budgets and invoices. I also sort out day to day logistics around the shows, particularly for our touring companies. My favourite part of the job is welcoming and hosting the artists and looking after our performers during the season.

What do you enjoy about working at the Globe?

We are a very small, ambitious team and we like to get our hands dirty! The theatre is only one part of the Globe, and it might look like a large institution from the outside, but from the inside it feels like a small, crazy, independent theatre company. All in our management team come from theatre-making backgrounds, so we love to jump in and help our performers and creative artists in practical ways. It makes the work varied and adventurous. We’ll do what it takes – from drafting contracts and solving strategic issues to brewing a vital cup of tea for an exhausted artist, driving replacement props to a touring venue or showing incoming

Page 11: /603948

11

audiences the way to alternative toilets while the main ones are broken (this only happened once!)

Tell us something we don’t know about the Globe.

As a German, I am still flabbergasted by the fact that this busy, inventive theatre runs without government subsidy. It finances itself mostly through the money brought in by its enthusiastic audiences – and bear in mind that many of them only pay £5 per show! We have nothing like this in Germany. Over the years I have noticed that the more famous this theatre becomes, the less people seem to realize or indeed believe that we are surviving without tax money.

3. Floyd Alexander-Hunt, Globe Education Assistant, was raised in Auckland, New Zealand. Eighteen year old Floyd is currently working as Globe Education Assistant in Globe Education. In 2010 Floyd, a keen performer, made it through to the final round of the Sheliah Winn Shakespeare Festival in Wellington and won one of just 5 acting awards for her special individual performance of Falstaff in The Merry Wives of Windsor. She went on to win a place to train at Shakespeare’s Globe in London for three weeks in July 2010 as part of the Globe’s summer education programme.

Whilst at the Globe, Floyd heard of the gap year posts that the Globe offers every year, and is now working in the role of Globe Education Assistant. The role includes scheduling, financial administration and liaising with practitioners and students. She said “It’s a great role because I can get super involved in a variety of aspects in education and performance. It’s a very unique place to work and a unique experience which I’m confident will be beneficial in applications for university, and my future career in theatre. It’s also fun, fast-paced and rewarding – I love to see the performers’ progression and work closely with the talented practitioners and students.”

4. Yolanda Vazquez, actress and learning consultant, was born in San Roque, Cadiz, South Spain.

Yolanda lived in Spain until she was aged 10 and first visited the Globe soon after it opened in 1997. She has performed onstage at the Globe and currently works in Globe Education as a Learning Consultant. She first visited the Globe soon after it opened in 1997 and has performed on stage in The Comedy of Errors (1999), and Two Noble Kinsmen (2000). She studied at the Drama Centre London.

Q&A with Yolanda Vazquez

Tell us a little about where you’re from.

I was born in a town called San Roque, in the province of Cadiz, in southern Spain. The gardens at the back of my street looked onto the sea framed by Gibraltar and Africa. Although a small town, it was always very cosmopolitan, possibly due to the proximity of port towns like Algeciras.

You have performed on the Globe stage many times, tell us about the experience from both an actors and an audience point of view.

As an actor, the Globe is an exhilarating place to work. The immediacy of and connection to the audience is something that you don’t often encounter. As the audience you are pulled in and involved, it’s a visceral experience.

What do you enjoy most about your current role as Learning Consultant?

Page 12: /603948

12

I enjoy training new practitioners, helping them build their workshops activities and observing them develop their practice. Working with national and international teachers on continual professional development and sharing rehearsal room activities for use in the classroom is always satisfying.

5. Hannah Lobelson, born Sydney, Australia is the Globe’s Wardrobe Manager.

Hannah moved to London in 2004 after studying Fashion at the Fashion Design Studio, The Sydney Institute of Technology in Sydney. Her first job in London was working for director Steven Spielberg on the film Munich. She started at the Globe as Wardrobe Assistant in 2005 and subsequently became Wardrobe Manager. She has also worked for the National Opera House and the Royal Shakespeare Company. This year Hannah will work with designer Jenny Tiramani on Original Practice costumes - a way of creating Elizabethan clothing today using the same materials and techniques that were used in Shakespeare's day - which means no velcro, poppers and sewing machines. They use the same dyes, materials, washing practices and hand sewing techniques that were used in the 1600's. Hannah will be working with award-winning actor Mark Rylance for our 2012 Theatre season. Mark Rylance will take on two of Shakespeare's major characters - the title role in a new production of Richard III and a reprisal of his widely celebrated performance of Olivia in Twelfth Night, 10 years after its original premiere; both of which will be staged as 'Original Practices' productions.

Q&A with Hannah Lobelson

Tell us what you most enjoy about your job.

The aspects that I enjoy most about my job have to be the variety and being surrounded by creative people. No day is the same when you're working with live theatre and my job requires me to be very creative and resourceful and to think and act fast. It is very inspiring working in an environment such as Shakespeare's Globe where you are exposed to great artists every day. Everyone is working towards producing the best they can and high standards are always inspiring. I do feel there is an emphasis placed on the costumes at the Globe by our audience and I enjoy producing work that fulfils or even exceeds those expectations.

Talk us through what you do on a working day at the Globe when a performance takes place.

During the theatre season, Shakespeare's Globe has 13 performances every week which is a large amount of shows for the wardrobe department to support given the size of each show and the array of costumes required for each production. That means there are almost always two performances every day and not necessarily of the same show. We can have up to five different productions being performed in a single week and it is my responsibility to direct the wardrobe department to make sure the costumes are ready for each performance and ensure the costume changes during each performance go ahead as rehearsed. There are a further eight people in my department and they are all highly trained with excellent sewing skills, who understand historical dress and the demands of a busy running wardrobe department. The first thing to do in the morning is the laundry from the show the night before and then any repairs or alterations ready for the next performance. The matinee is at 2pm with actors getting into costume about an hour beforehand so the mornings can be a little rushed getting everything cleaned, dried, ironed, starched, repaired, hung in dressing rooms and then dressed onto the actors ready for the show to start. Once the matinee is up, the wardrobe assistants dressing on that show will be backstage doing all the costume changes. Back in the wardrobe department, the afternoon will be spent getting the evening show ready in the same manner as well as looking ahead to preparing new costumes for productions we have starting over the coming weeks. It is certainly never dull and though

Page 13: /603948

13

there is a definite routine, costume emergencies do occur and of course, the show must go on.

Explain to us the notion of Original Practices.

The term 'Original Practices' in relation to costume, refers to a way of recreating Elizabethan clothing today in as similar a way as possible to the way they were produced during Shakespeare’s lifetime. This was how costumes were produced at Shakespeare’s Globe from 1996 until 2005 under the extraordinary leadership of designer, Jenny Tiramani and her team. Everything was stitched by hand with meticulous attention played even to an actor's undergarments, everything was made using materials and even colours and dyes that could only have existed then. There was no polyester, no zippers, not even hairspray was used and it was a very extraordinary time for our theatre. Today at the Globe, costume is approached in a more modern way, and though we are producing costumes with the silhouette and style of Elizabethan clothing, they are made using a sewing machine, with manmade fabrics and modern fastenings. Each approach is entirely valid and has much to offer the performer and audience. I am only privileged and grateful to have been exposed to both methods and so now I can combine them to give the best outcome for our costumes and our productions.

How often do you visit home in Australia?

I have been fortunate in being able to return to Australia around once a year since I left Sydney in 2004. It is certainly still home to both my husband and I, and I miss so much about being there. I think it best not to compare Sydney and London as they are so very different. You need to just appreciate each one for the extraordinary things it has to offer and not see the contrast as a shortcoming. Sydney has beautiful things that London never will have and London has fascinating things that Sydney can’t offer. I am happy to be able to experience both cities in such a rewarding way.

6. Speak to Tom Bird, Director of the Globe to Globe Festival.

In producing the Globe to Globe Festival, Tom has travelled the world from Armenia to Zanzibar in search of Shakespeare. He has worked for the Globe since 2007. Previous employment includes work for the ground-breaking physical theatre festival Aurora Nova at Edinburgh and for a number of music groups, most notably the Northern Sinfonia. Tom's roots are in the north-east, and as a playwright he is a regular contributor to Live Theatre's Short Cuts events in Newcastle. His short play Kaz and the Coots was recorded for the BBC Radio 3 Free Thinking Festival in 2009. He was educated at the universities of Edinburgh and Copenhagen. For a list of countries and languages involved in the Globe to Globe Festival please visit http://globetoglobe.shakespearesglobe.com/

7. Speak to Dominic Dromgoole, Artistic Director.

Dominic Dromgoole was appointed Artistic Director of Shakespeare's Globe in 2006. Since 2006 the Globe has increased its diet of new work, has begun a small scale touring operation, which now travels all over the UK and Europe, has done two large scale tours of North America and its first across England, has initiated winter performances, and has filmed many of its productions for distribution in cinemas and DVD. Dominic has directed Shakespeare's Hamlet (2011), Henry IV Parts 1 and 2 (2010), Love's Labour's Lost (2007 and 2009), Romeo and Juliet (2009), King Lear (2008), Coriolanus and Antony and Cleopatra (both 2006) for Shakespeare's Globe as well as Trevor Griffiths' new play A New World (2009). He was Artistic Director of the Oxford Stage Company, 1999-2005, and the Bush Theatre 1990-96, and Director of New Plays for the Peter Hall Company in 1996/7. In addition Dominic has directed at the Tricycle Theatre, in the West-End, and in America and Romania. He has written two books The Full Room (Methuen 2001) and Will and Me

Page 14: /603948

14

(Penguin 2006), has had a column in the New Statesman and The Guardian, and has written extensively for many journals, most often the Sunday Times.

8. Speak to Patrick Spottiswoode, Director, Globe Education.

Patrick Spottiswoode joined Shakespeare’s Globe in 1984 and became founding Director, Globe Education in 1989. In 1995 he initiated a 30 year project to stage readings and record all surviving plays by Shakespeare’s contemporaries. Other projects include the first Globe MA in Shakespeare Studies with King’s College London, a two year programme of events celebrating Shakespeare and Islam and, more recently, a Shakespeare is German series of events including the launch of a book of translations, Goethe on Shakespeare, which Patrick commissioned. Patrick is currently the President of the Shakespeare Theatre Association. This summer he received an Honorary PhD from Warwick University and an Honorary Fellowship from King’s College London.

9. Speak to Neil Constable, Chief Executive.

Neil Constable joined Shakespeare’s Globe as Chief Executive in October 2010. Neil was Executive Director of the Almeida Theatre since March 2003, joining just before the successful re-opening after a major £5.5million capital redevelopment. Before joining the Almeida, he worked for the Royal Shakespeare Company for 16-years, including holding senior management positions of London Manager at the Barbican Centre and General Administrator. He is also a Governor of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, Member of the Society of London Theatre, a Director of Propeller Theatre Company and Honorary Advisor to the Yorke Trust.

10. Speak to Rawiri Paratene from New Zealand about his relationship with Shakespeare’s Globe.

Star of the film Whale Rider, Rawiri Paratene will play Pandarus in a unique Māori translation of Troilus & Cressida at Shakespeare’s Globe on the 23rd and 24th April 2012. The first Māori actor to perform in the summer season at Shakespeare’s Globe, as Friar Lawrence in the 2009 production of Romeo and Juliet, Paratene will return to the Globe to take the part of Pandarus. He will also co-produce. Rawiri took park in Globe Education’s International Actors Fellowship in 2007.

Perhaps best known for his role as Koro (the Grandfather) in Whale Rider, Paratene has enjoyed a varied career as an actor, writer, director and producer in theatre, television, radio and film.

11. Speak to actress Kate Duchêne about her love for performing at Shakespeare’s Globe.

Actress Kate Duchêne played Katherine of Aragon in Shakespeare’s rarely performed Henry VIII in 2010 at the Globe. Kate was born in London but moved to France when she was only 3 weeks old. She read French and Spanish at Trinity College, Cambridge University, she has also appeared onstage for the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre.

12. Speak to Peter McCurdy, Master Craftsman of Shakespeare’s Globe.

McCurdy & Co. were closely involved in the authentic reconstruction of Shakespeare's original 'wooden O', carrying out much of the early research and analysis together with the detailed design and fabrication of the entire oak frame. As there were no building records in existence the Globe team had to rely on historic reference material, Peter McCurdy's own knowledge of carpentry methodology of the period and analysis of the relevant contemporary buildings to help determine the overall design.

Page 15: /603948

15

Peter is currently working with the Architecture Research Group on the development of the Indoor Jacobean Theatre, which is set to open on site in 2013. Peter will advise on reconstruction issues and how they relate to achieving a faithful Jacobean interior, and to ensure that a successful fusion of modern codes and licensing requirements with historical accuracy can be achieved.

Since opening in 1997, Shakespeare’s Globe has become an iconic landmark of international recognition and its distinctive performance space offers audiences and actors an experience like no other. If you would like to speak to Peter McCurdy about the part he played in bringing the building to fruition and his work on the Indoor Jacobean Theatre, please contact the press office.

Background information - about Shakespeare’s Globe Since Shakespeare’s Globe opened in 1997 it has welcomed visitors from all over the world to enjoy the unique experience of a play performed in the ‘wooden o’ – a faithful reconstruction of Shakespeare’s theatre. Audiences can choose to stand and watch from the yard for just £5 - offering a dynamic and unique experience unlike any other. Productions range from classics to new writing.

Founded in 1989, Globe Education is now one of the largest arts education departments in the UK. Teaching through Shakespeare and committed to working with the community, Globe Education offers courses, programmes, bespoke workshops, tours and events for students from pre-school to postgraduate level, teaching professionals and families, encouraging active understanding and engagement. Over 100,000 students a year, of all ages and nationalities visit Globe Education, which also offers its resources through outreach programmes, distance learning projects and the Globe Education website.

The Globe also provides an inspiring exhibition and theatre tour. Throughout the year, expert tour guides bring the space to life with colourful stories of the original Globe, and the reconstruction process in the 1990s, describing how the ‘wooden o’ works today as an imaginative and experimental theatrical space.

And the Globe continues to grow. The Sackler Studios opened in November 2010 and allow Globe Education to continue its ever-expanding programme by offering workshop and rehearsal space. The completion of the Indoor Jacobean Theatre in 2013, will give the Globe the opportunity to present works written specifically for an indoor playhouse, and for the first time, to have a year-round programme of plays and theatrical events. The Globe’s productions tour the UK, Europe, UAE and America, as well as screening productions in cinemas allowing the Globe’s productions to reach a worldwide audience. Funding and Development

The Globe operates free of any annual government subsidy, which has led to an extraordinary level of creativity and flexibility in its approach to long term business development. Within an annual turnover of over £16 million and an increasingly diverse income base, Shakespeare’s Globe is a thriving arts enterprise.

Almost 20% of the Globe’s turnover comes from charitable donations, and is crucial to our development and growth not only as a professional theatre, but also as a thriving educational charity. We work with trusts, companies and individuals from around the world to raise funds for our work, and do so for not only revenue costs, but individual artistic, educational and capital projects. A range of opportunities have been created for supporters who want to be involved in the Globe and its work.

Page 16: /603948

16

The current focus is its four phase £20million capital campaign: The Sackler Studios – the education and rehearsal centre, the Indoor Jacobean Theatre, the Library and Research Centre and the Endowment Fund. Having raised the funds for and completing the Sackler Studios in 2010 the Globe is now raising £7million to complete our Indoor Jacobean Theatre which will open in 2013.

The Friends of Shakespeare’s Globe

The Friends fund a range of Globe Theatre and Globe Education programmes. Members enjoy a range of privileges in return for their annual subscription, including priority booking before theatre tickets are available to the public, special events, post-show discussions and the membership magazine, Around the Globe. There are currently 7,000 Friends with memberships ranging from £40 to £5,000.

For further information on Development and Funding please visit http://www.shakespearesglobe.com/support-us

The Theatre Season

The Globe Theatre Company is formed annually in the spring, and contracts extend until the end of the theatre season. Productions play in repertory from April to October and have gained a reputation for performance excellence in architectural conditions which are as close as possible to those of Shakespeare’s time.

The actor Mark Rylance began his tenure as Artistic Director in January 1996 and in June 1997 he appeared as the title role in the Globe’s opening production of Henry V. He directed and appeared in a number of productions at the Globe, including Antony and Cleopatra, Hamlet, Cymbeline and the award-winning Twelfth Night.

Mark Rylance was succeeded in 2006 by Dominic Dromgoole who had previously been Artistic Director of the Oxford Stage Company from 1999-2005 and the Bush Theatre from 1990-96. Productions directed at Shakespeare’s Globe include Coriolanus, Antony and Cleopatra, Love’s Labour’s Lost and King Lear. His books include The Full Room (2001) and Will and Me (2006).

‘Authenticity’

The Globe has never made any claim to historical authenticity in its productions. Many of the conditions of 16th and 17th century performance- the Elizabethan repertory system, 16th century rehearsal practices, pronunciation, the mentality of the audience itself- are for the time being at least, practicably irrecoverable. Nevertheless, under Mark Rylance’s directorship, each season presented ‘Original Practices’ productions that adopted some of the conditions under which the plays could have been first performed. This was most evident in the adoption of all-male casting, Elizabethan and Jacobean clothing, music and dance. The 2012 theatre season The Play’s The Thing will welcome Mark Rylance back to the Globe stage, in two original performance productions of Richard III and Twelfth Night. Shakespeare’s contemporaries and new plays

The Globe has also produced a number of plays by Shakespeare’s contemporaries, including works by Christopher Marlowe, Thomas Middleton, Thomas Dekker and Richard Brome. These productions have been complemented by the ‘Read not Dead’ project run by Globe Education, which has presented staged readings of over 150 plays since 1995.

New plays have also been written for the Globe. Under Mark Rylance’s artistic directorship, two new works by Peter Oswald, Augustine’s Oak (1999) and The Golden Ass (2002) showed an early commitment to modern drama. Since Dominic Dromgoole became Artistic

Page 17: /603948

17

Director in 2006, ten new plays have been premiered at the Globe, most recently the award-winning Anne Boleyn by Howard Brenton, Bedlam by Nell Leyshon and The God of Soho by Chris Hannan.

International productions

Since opening in 1997, Shakespeare’s Globe has played host to a number of international productions – referred to as Globe to Globe productions. They include Umabatha (South African, 1997), Otra Tempestad (Cuba, 1998), Kathakali King Lear (South Indian, 1999), Romeu & Julieta (Brazilian, 2000), Kyogen of Errors (Japan, 2001) and Umabatha (South African, 2001). This year Shakespeare’s Globe will play host to 37 international theatre companies in just six weeks, when all of Shakespeare’s plays and his great narrative poem, Venus and Adonis will be performed in 37 languages.

South Bank and Bankside Situated on Bankside, on the south side of the River Thames, Shakespeare’s Globe is surrounded by a wealth of cultural sites and beautiful views. The Globe stands beside Tate Modern and directly opposite St Paul’s Cathedral. It is within walking distance of The Clink Prison Museum, the Golden Hind, Southwark Cathedral, HMS Belfast and the Millennium Bridge. The area is rich with arts – with the National Theatre, Royal Festival Hall, Hayward Gallery, the Menier Chocolate Factory, Southwark Playhouse, the Union Theatre, Siobhan Davies Dance studios, the British Film Institute, the Bankside Gallery, the Menier Gallery and the Jerwood Space, all situated nearby. London’s most renowned food market, Borough Market is in close proximity. Bankside – a brief history Bankside is one of the oldest settlements in Britain. When the Romans founded Londinium on the north bank of the Thames, a bridge was built near the site of the present day London Bridge, and the surrounding area has been inhabited ever since. The main entertainments that drew crowds to Bankside in the late 16th and 17th centuries were the 'stews' (brothels), animal-baiting arenas and public theatres. The Rose, the Swan, the Globe and the Hope were the four Bankside playhouses, and some of the first in London. Some of England's greatest writers and players, including William Shakespeare, lived and worked on Bankside.

The stretch of the river between Blackfriars Bridge and London Bridge was also known to freeze over in exceptionally cold winters and Londoners used to take to the ice for all manner of activities in what were known as ‘Frost Fairs’.

During the late 18th century, Bankside developed into an industrial environment of docks, warehouses and wharves. Following industrial decline after the Second World War, it remained largely undiscovered until its recent renaissance as one of the capital's prime cultural quarters and visitor destinations.

The first Globe

The original Globe was built at Bankside on the south side of the Thames in 1599 by the playing company The Lord Chamberlain’s Men, to which William Shakespeare belonged. Many of Shakespeare’s best loved plays were almost certainly performed at the Globe, including Henry V, As You Like It, and the major tragedies Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, and Macbeth. For fourteen years it was the one of the most successful playhouses in London.

In 1613, however, a stage cannon misfired and set fire to the thatched roof of the Globe during a performance of Henry VIII, and the theatre burned to the ground. A second Globe was built on the same site. Shakespeare may have acted in the second Globe, but he never

Page 18: /603948

18

wrote for it. However, it remained a home for The Lord Chamberlain’s company until the closure of all theatres by England’s Puritan administration in 1642. No longer of use, it was demolished to make room for tenements in 1644.

It is difficult to ascertain what the first Globe would have looked like, as no plans or construction drawings that clearly depict the form of the original theatre have survived. Printed panoramas, such as those by John Norden and Wenceslas Hollar, give a generalised idea of the theatre’s exterior. Written accounts, usually by visitors from overseas, a building contract from the construction of the Fortune Theatre and one drawing of the nearby Swan Theatre tell us something about the interior. In addition, descriptive passages may be found within the plays themselves, such as the famous Chorus at the opening of Henry V:

And shall this cockpit hold within the vasty fields of France

Or may we cram this wooden ‘O’…………..

In fact, the Globe was not truly circular. The archaeological excavation of the nearby Rose Theatre in 1989 revealed what most scholars had long suspected that the Elizabethan playhouses were polygonal buildings. In the same year, a small portion of the Globe itself was excavated, from which two important inferences were drawn; that it was probably a 20-sided building, with a diameter of 100 feet.

The site of the original Globe lies approximately 200 yards from the reconstructed theatre on Bankside. The foundations were discovered under a Grade II listed Georgian terrace on Southwark Bridge Road.

Shakespeare in London

Throughout his working life, Shakespeare worked as an actor in the midst of a troupe. We know little about his first years in London. For a few years between 1585 and 1592, his name disappears altogether from the public records. The most likely reason for this is that, for at least some of this time, he was a ‘hireling’ in one of the city’s acting companies and as a junior member he would not be listed among the troupe’s principal players.

In the late 1580’s, theatrical activity in London was largely concentrated in Shoreditch, the district of the Theatre and Curtain playhouses, and Southwark, the district of their great rival the Rose. Shakespeare could have lived anywhere, but Shoreditch, which would have been cheap and convenient (if perhaps down-at-heel), is a likely candidate for a young hireling. In his early career Shakespeare may have moved from troupe to troupe in order to survive. Whatever the case, working conditions must have been similar. Sundays, Lent and disasters (such as plague) aside, a company would perform a different play each afternoon of the week, though some plays would be repeated in the weeks ahead. An actor usually had to keep at least 30 parts in his memory and leading actors such as Edward Alleyn or Richard Burbage must have kept in mind as many as 5000 lines in any week.

In 1594, Shakespeare’s name appears in the records of the Chamberlain’s Men and as the author of plays performed at the Theatre, the Curtain and the Rose. He remained a ‘sharer’ in the Chamberlain’s (later the King’s) Men for the rest of his working life. This attachment offered him some security amidst the chief vagaries of a theatrical career - the threats of a puritanical Guildhall, fierce competition and plague. The first domestic trace of Shakespeare in London suggests that life was respectable enough. In October 1596 he was lodging at St Helen’s parish in Bishopsgate, a well-to-do area about half way between the two theatre districts.

Page 19: /603948

19

By at least 1599, he had taken up residence in Southwark – very convenient for the newly-built Globe Theatre, in which he had become a shareholder in late 1598. He clearly lived there for some time, but the Bankside area was notorious for its shady atmosphere and Shakespeare may have tired of it after five years. In 1604 he was lodging with a French émigré family in a double-tenement in a middle-class neighbourhood between St Paul’s and Cripplegate, half an hour’s walk from the Globe. Four years later, Shakespeare’s troupe, now named the King’s Men, took on the lease of the indoor Blackfriars playhouse, a disused monastery hall. It served as their winter house and Shakespeare’s working life would have settled into a regular rhythm of alternate performance seasons at the Globe and the Blackfriars punctuated by increasingly frequent appearances at court.

We can only guess when he wrote his plays. He may have had his own writing ‘season’, perhaps in the quieter winter months, but he never stopped acting, probably taking two or three minor parts instead of a major one. He seems to have chosen for himself the more static and elegiac roles in his plays, such as old Adam in As You Like It and the Ghost in Hamlet. His audiences included many habitual playgoers and many must have known Shakespeare and he, them. We can imagine, as one of Shakespeare’s biographers has written, ‘that there might have been a complex, subtle, communicative exchange when he appeared in one of his own plays’. (Park Honan, Shakespeare: a Life, 1998).

In the spring of 1613, he purchased his first property in London, the Blackfriars gatehouse, a part of the old priory complex, very close to the river at Puddle Wharf. He was renting it out by 1616, but may originally have entertained other intentions for the property. It would certainly have been a handy pied-á-terre for both the Blackfriars and the Globe. Perhaps the destruction of the first Globe in 1613, which probably prompted Shakespeare to sell his share in the theatre, altered his plans for it. He may not have given up acting, but his writing career was over by the end of that year. In 1614 he returned to Stratford-upon-Avon, dying in 1616, seven years before the publication of many of his plays in the First Folio of 1623.

Sam Wanamaker – rebuilding Shakespeare’s Globe The Shakespeare Globe Trust

The project to rebuild Shakespeare’s Globe was initiated by the American actor, director and producer Sam Wanamaker. During a visit to London in 1949 he was disappointed to find that the only memorial to Shakespeare at the site of the Globe was a plaque on a brewery wall.

In 1970 he founded what was to become The Shakespeare Globe Trust, whose mission was to reconstruct the Globe, build an indoor theatre of the period to designs attributed to Inigo Jones to create an education centre and a permanent exhibition to the exploration of Shakespeare in performance.

In July 1993, Sam Wanamaker was made an Honorary Commander of the British Empire (CBE) by the Queen, in recognition of the remarkable contribution he had made to relations between Britain and the United States, and for all he had done on behalf of the Shakespeare ‘s Globe project.

In 1993, after 23 years of fundraising on behalf of the trust, Sam Wanamaker died, the building site having been secured, the exhibition undercroft structurally complete and a few timber bays of the Globe in place. In 1997, 3 ½ years after Sam’s death, the theatre and its ancillary buildings were completed and the Globe was opened by Her Majesty the Queen in June 1997. Fundraising continues to realise some of the other elements of the project.

Page 20: /603948

20

Sam Wanamaker’s vision has led to the creation of what has become a successful arts enterprise, combining theatre, education, research and the world’s largest exhibition dedicated to Shakespeare.

By bringing international visitors to London, or by taking its work overseas, Shakespeare's Globe in London continues to make Sam Wanamaker's international dream a reality.

Shakespeare Globe Centres

Shakespeare's Globe has affiliations with four Shakespeare Globe Centres around the world, in Canada, New Zealand, USA and Germany. Each plays a significant part in the cultural life of its own country and contributes to the Globe's work in numerous ways, reflecting the international nature of the Globe project. Whether through education projects, fundraising, research, organising Friends’ associations, or in a host of other ways, the SGCs' contribution to the development and spirit of the Globe has been - and continues to be - inestimable.

Reconstructing the Globe

Theo Crosby RA, a founding partner of the design company Pentagram, was the architect of the reconstructed Globe, drawing up the numerous plans for the theatre from the time of his first involvement with Sam Wanamaker in 1969. Sadly, he died only a few months after Sam, and did not live to see the theatre completed. His work was carried on by his assistant Jon Greenfield.

Techniques used in the reconstruction of the theatre were painstakingly accurate. ‘Green’ oak was cut and fashioned according to 16th century practice and assembled in two-dimensional bays on the Bankside site; Oak laths and staves were used to support lime plaster mixed according to a contemporary recipe and the walls were covered in a white lime wash. The roof is made of water reed thatch based on samples found during the excavation of the site of the original Globe.

The stage is the most conjectural aspect of the reconstruction. Almost nothing survives from the period to suggest the appearance of this part of the theatre. Its design was drawn from evidence provided by surviving buildings of the period and practical advice offered by the actors and directors who participated in the 1995 ‘Workshop’ and 1996 ‘Prologue’ seasons.

The new Globe is also designed with the 21st century in mind. An additional exit, illuminated signage, fire-retardant materials and some modern backstage machinery are all concessions to our times.

The reconstruction is as faithful to the original as modern scholarship and traditional craftsmanship can make it, so for the time being this Globe is neither more nor less than the ‘best guess’ at Shakespeare’s theatre. A full account of the reconstruction can be found in Shakespeare’s Globe Rebuilt, ed. Mulryne and Shewring, Cambridge University Press, 1997. Did you know? Interesting facts about Shakespeare and the Globe

The theatre has a capacity of 1500 people per performance

Approximately a quarter of a million people visit the Globe during the annual theatre season

Up to 700 ‘groundlings’ can stand in the yard for each performance

Some 150 000 people pay just £5 for a groundling ticket every year.

Page 21: /603948

21

The Globe Theatre is 33ft high to the eaves (45ft overall)

6,000 bundles of Norfolk Water Reed were used on the Globe's roof

36,000 handmade bricks were used

90 tons of lime putty were used for the Tudor brickwork

180 tons of lime plaster went into the outer walls

168,000 metres of oak laths were used for both sides of the walls

The Globe's pillars, which hold up the roof over the stage, are 28ft high and weigh a total of 3 tons

Shakespeare’s Globe opened in 1997 and is the first and only public thatched building in London since the Great Fire 330 years earlier. Today, it is one of the most famous thatched buildings in the world.

The Bankside Gates at Shakespeare’s Globe, facing St. Paul’s Cathedral across the Thames are a powerful symbol of the international aims of Shakespeare’s Globe. The gates feature 125 motifs representing flora and fauna in Shakespeare’s plays and poems and were crafted by blacksmiths all over the world including USA, New Zealand, Netherlands, Israel, Italy, Germany, Australia, Scotland, Luxembourg, Czech Republic, Japan and Ireland.

In 1987, before the Globe opened, His Royal Highness Prince Philip drove in the first oak foundation post from Windsor Great Park, which was followed by posts donated by 25 international countries.

Shakespeare’s Henry VIII was famous in its own day as a visual pageant of masques and royal ceremony, and was responsible for burning down the original Globe during a performance on 29 June 1613.

In 2006 the Globe’s production of Titus Andronicus had the highest number of audience members fainting, with an average of 6 people fainting per show.

An anagram of William Shakespeare is I’ll make a wise phrase.

An anagram of Globe Theatre is Be Altogether.

Press releases If you would like to receive the latest announcements from Shakespeare’s Globe please e-mail your name, job title, media outlet details, e-mail address, telephone number and country of publication to [email protected] or call the press office on +44 207 902 1476

Current press releases can be found at http://www.shakespearesglobe.com/about-us/press

Press image and film library Shakespeare’s Globe’s new Online Press Image and Film Library holds a variety of photographs and broadcast quality footage of Shakespeare's Globe productions, exterior and interior shots of our unique auditorium as well as our Exhibition & Tour, events, projects, shop, hospitality spaces and staff. These can be viewed and downloaded free of charge for non-commercial, editorial use.

Please visit http://press.shakespearesglobe.com/

Please note, Shakespeare's Globe Online Press Image and Film Library does not cover personal, educational or commercial use, including book publishing, arts marketing or advertising purposes. Pictures may be borrowed for research or for reproduction in approved types of publication. Facility and reproduction fees are payable in most cases. For enquiries of this nature, please email David Bellwood at [email protected]

Page 22: /603948

22

Filming at the Globe

In certain circumstances the Globe allows filming and photography on site on condition the production adheres to its terms and conditions. Most specifically it is worth remembering that the Globe is a registered charity and as such will charge access for commercial filming and photography in order to further its mission. In other words, the work you do on site will directly benefit the actors, audience and architecture and ensure the ethos of this unique venue continues to thrive.

For large and small scale filming and photography please fill in the relevant forms found at http://www.shakespearesglobe.com/about-us/press/filming-photography. The Filming and Photography terms and conditions are to be read and signed prior to permission being granted. All crew working on site should be made aware of these guidelines in advance of access. Failure to comply with these guidelines may result in filming being stopped. Contact the Press Office Julia Hallawell Press and PR Manager Telephone: +44 (0)20 7902 1491 Email: [email protected]

Rebecca Storey Senior Press and PR Officer Telephone: +44 (0)20 7902 1492 Email: [email protected]

Louise Gilbert Press and PR Officer, 2012 Telephone: +44 (0)20 7902 1476 Email: [email protected]

Eleanor Lovegrove Press and PR Officer - Globe Education Telephone: +44 (0)20 7902 1468 Email: [email protected]

Notes to Editors

Swan at the Globe bar and restaurant is open all year round. For reservations please call +44 207 928 9444. www.loveswan.co.uk

The Shakespeare Globe Trust is a registered charity No.266916. Shakespeare’s Globe receives no public subsidy.

Shakespeare’s Globe Print Annual Review: printed every year in the spring this document contains all financial information relating to Shakespeare’s Globe and can be found online at http://www.shakespearesglobe.com/about-us/press/releases/2012-annual-review

Season brochures: With details of our theatre season, touring and Globe Education’s programme of theatre related events

Around the Globe: This magazine is printed three times a year. Full of articles by leading scholars this is a must for any Shakespeare fan.