Globe Theater

OK so i guess the first thing to say about Globe theater, is that its not the real Globe Theater. Its an EXACT replica of the original that is up to today's safety codes. Aside from that fact the theater is amazing to see. The stage itself is somewhat small and there are no side wings. The actors simply would go on stage or off stage. The seating was interesting, because not only could you be standing (cheapest) but you could sit in the wooden bleachers around, or if you had money you could sit in special "boxes" very much like we have today. Those boxes were painted to make them appear more important.

However is you were royalty and if you had an immense amount of money, then you could actually sit up on the balcony with the orchestra which was situated on the 2 floor balcony of the stage. So they didnt actually pay to see a great show because obviously they were looking at the back of the actors head the whole time they paid to be seen at the shows. In some cases you could actually purchase a seat on stage with the actors which really amazed me.


All of it forced the actors and the audience to eliminate that sense of fantasy in a play. Because the actors were completely surrounded by people and because the people could see everything the actors did and they would address the audience it forced everybody to be included. Some other facts that i found out, when we think of Shakespeare's "to be or not to be" monologue we assume that he didnt address anybody and that it is in all of his head or he is talking to himself. When you are at the Globe theater you realize that he couldn't help but not address the audience when he talks, so in fact he is talking to the audience when he did that speech. Also i learned why certain things are called what they are.

When a person says that they have a roll like ( i have the role of Juliet) its because back in the day they printed their lines on actual roles. And not only did the roles have their lines, but also only had their que lines before their own. So each actor only had their parts and no one elses. So every single play was basically improve because they had about 2 weeks to rehearse and about 2 hours a day to do it. These facts amazed me, perhaps its because i'm a theater minor or maybe not but it was still fascinating.