The Globe: Symbol of love from an American
Gwen Herat at the Globe, Southwark - London
Globe is synonymous with Shakespeare and played a vital role in his
life giving an impetus to his plays where hardly a theatre was available
to mount his plays. The Globe was not only a medium to express, exhibit
and publicise his plays, but it also made him a business in the
process..... I mean the old Globe built in 1599 where Shakespeare too
had his stakes in the form of 10 percent of the total cost.
Emergence of the Globe
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The spectacular Globe stage open to the skies |
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The stage design is debatable, open to discoveries by scholars
and actors. After some painful encounters with the stage
pillars, the square bases were rounded. |
The Burbage family consisting of James and his two sons, Richard and
Cuthbert, too played an important part in shaping Shakespeare's life. He
had watched James Burbage act with Earl of Leicester's Men as a little
boy. The Earl was responsible in mounting plays at Stratford in the
Theatre built by James where later many of Shakespeare's plays were
first seen. At the same time, Chamberlaine's Men and its playwrights
were doing well.
Then came a nasty blow to the Company when it was learnt that the
lease of land on which the Theatre stood, was not going to be renewed.
The Theatre had to be demolished. Where would they perform? Burbages
were determined not to be daunted.
Instead, they carefully dismantled the Theatre plank by plank and
used its timber to build a big and magnificent new playhouse on the
South Bank of River Thames.
Thus, the Globe opened in 1599 but it was a very expensive project
where Burbages were only able to raise 50 percent of the cost. Five
members of the Chamberlaine's Men along with William Shakespeare pooled
into to make up the total cost.
As a shareholder of the Globe, Shakespeare stood in line to receive
greater profits than before. He was not only a man of the theatre but a
successful businessman. Thus, Shakespeare and Burbages worked together
as business partners and actors for at least two decades. But tragedy
struck their teamwork. On June 29, 1613, the Globe Theatre burnt down
during a performance of the play, Henry III probably written by
Shakespeare with the young writer, John Fletcher.
Then came a young American actor, centuries later. He was Sam
Wanamaker, CBE, (1919-1993) who came to London in 1949 and set out to
visit the sight of Shakespeare's Globe
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Sam Wanamaker |
and was surprised to find that
the only testimony to its existence was a blackened bronze plaque on the
wall of a brewery. He dreamed of a fitter memorial to the great
playwright, a replica of the Globe itself. Sam Wanamaker's enthusiasm,
tenacity and energy inspired a worldwide effort to rebuild the Globe as
faithfully as scholarship and craftsmanship could achieve, only a few
hundred yards away from where Shakespeare's original stood. As we visit
the new Globe we are witnessing the fulfilment of Wanamaker's dream.
At the time Wanamaker was making arrangements to build the Globe,
there was another who had the same dream but was not sure how to set
about it. He was Theo Crosby (1925-1994), a South African by birth and a
high profile founder member of the Pentagram Design Group, also the
architect of the Globe.
They both met at the time Wanamaker was arguing that rather than
starting with a clean sweep of existing buildings, it was important for
community life to conserve the environment and mix old and the new
architecture.
The idea of rebuilding Shakespeare's Globe fitted precisely his
vision of what made city life natural, popular and richly interesting.
He was present at one of Wanamaker's presentations and offered to
help, thinking in terms of designing a brochure.
Instead he found himself signing for life. Cosby shared Wanamaker's
vision of the Globe taking its place within a revitalised Southwark,
relating to the community who live besides it, offering educational
opportunities, to all who work in it and drawing visitors like a magnet.
Wanamaker's passion for the Bard's work, sits magnificently on the
Globe and to think it was an American fan (not an English) who braved
tirelessly to give us the spectacular Globe, a place I would visit over
and over again each time I visit London. |
