Globe Theatre: Nuts and Bolts

Globe Theater: Nuts and Bolts During the epoch of Queen Elizabeth, one of the only forms of entertainment was theater. People would go to performances to take breaks from their harsh lives. Among the many constructed, no theater was quite as important and popular as the Globe Theater. The Globe stood its ground firmly with the beautiful gallery seats overseeing its grand wooden stage. Therefore, when describing this playhouse, one can divide the Globe into two parts – the parts of the playhouse dedicated to the audience, like the gallery seats and the ground seats, and those for the performers, like the stage and tiring house. When the audience entered the Globe, they would have a choice of seats. The ticket prices varied with the location of the spot you picked. The lavish gallery seats were made of wood and lined the interior of the twenty-sided theater, save for five of the sides, which were used as the backbone of the tiring house. There were three levels of balconies, which were built as ascending structures; the ground level measured twelve and a half feet wide, the second-story measured thirteen and a half feet wide, and the third-story measured fourteen and a half feet wide. The wealthy could afford these fine seats while the lower class would sit in the middle of the theater, or the “pit,” where the seats only cost a penny (Globe Theatre). “There were also a few areas reserved on the stage balcony for audience members of the nobility” (Globe Theatre). “The center of the theater was open to the sky. Because the theater had no interior lights, plays were performed in the afternoon to let in as much light as possible”(Ellis and Esler 60). This seating was very important for the theater as it offered a spot for any citizen to see the play, not only the wealthy. However incredible the balconies might have looked, the main entertainment came from the stage – a five-foot high platform that was over forty-nine feet long and twenty-seven feet deep. This

Cited: "Building a Scale Model of the Globe." www.sgc.umd.edu. N.p.. Web. 21 Mar 2013. Elis, Elisabeth, and Anthony Esler. World History: The Modern Era. Boston: Pearson Education, Inc., 2007. Print. 7 March Mabillard, Amanda. “The Globe.” Shakespeare Online. 20 August 2000. Web. 6 March 2013. "Globe Theatre." World History: The Modern Era. ABC-CLIO, 2013. Web. 22 Mar. 2013