The historic environment — the Globe Theatre

The historic environment paper requires a specified site study — for the Elizabeth option in 2024–25 the site is the Globe Theatre, Bankside, London. You need to know its features, its function, and its significance for understanding Elizabethan England.

What is the historic environment skill?

You'll be asked to:

• Describe features of the site (architecture, layout, materials).
• Explain its function in its time.
• Use it as a lens for wider Elizabethan society — culture, religion, politics.
• Evaluate sources (maps, archaeology, contemporary descriptions).

Origins of the Globe

The site's history:

• 1576 — James Burbage built The Theatre in Shoreditch, London — first purpose-built English playhouse.
• 1597 — landlord raised the rent; Burbage's company (Lord Chamberlain's Men) lost the lease.
• December 1598 — under cover of darkness, the company dismantled the Theatre and floated the timbers across the Thames to Bankside.
• 1599 — rebuilt as the Globe by Burbage's sons (Cuthbert and Richard) and shareholders, including William Shakespeare, on Bankside, Southwark.
• Shareholders ("housekeepers") owned 50% of the lease; their share entitled them to half the box-office.

Why Bankside?

Bankside was outside the City of London — outside Puritan-dominated city authority. Already an entertainment district:

• Bear-baiting rings.
• Brothels ("stews").
• Inns and ale-houses.
• Easy access from city by wherrymen (Thames boatmen) and London Bridge.

This put the Globe in a culturally mixed area that suited theatre.

The architecture

The Globe was a 20-sided polygon (close to a circle), giving it the look of an "O" — Shakespeare called it "this wooden O" in Henry V's prologue.

• Diameter — about 30 metres.
• Capacity — up to 3,000 spectators.
• Three storeys of galleries surrounding an open central yard.
• Thatched roof over galleries (caused fire in 1613).
• Open central yard — for groundlings.
• Stage — projected into the yard, ~12 metres wide, 8 metres deep.
• Tiring-house — wooden building behind the stage; actors' dressing rooms; balcony for upper-stage scenes (Juliet's balcony, etc.).
• Heaven — painted ceiling above the stage, with trapdoor for descents.
• Hell — trapdoor in the stage floor for ghosts and graves.
• Stage doors — at rear, for entrances and exits.
• Two columns — supported the heaven; sometimes painted as marble.

How performances worked

• Daylight performances — usually 2 pm, lasting 2–3 hours.
• Open-air — no roof over yard; rain disrupted plays.
• All-male cast — boys played female roles (women not allowed on professional stage).
• Flag flew when a play was on; trumpets announced start.
• No interval; minimal stage scenery.
• Costumes — lavish, often hand-me-downs from courtiers.
• Sound effects — drums for thunder; cannon for battles.
• Music — flutes, lutes, songs.
• Audience — vocal, interactive: cheered heroes, hissed villains, threw fruit at bad actors.

Audience and pricing

• Groundlings — 1 penny — stood in yard. Up to 1,000 people, often poor and rowdy.
• Galleries — 2 pence (1st), 3 pence (2nd) — sat on benches.
• Lords' Rooms — 6 pence — best seats above stage; visible to audience as well as stage.
• Stools on stage — for the very wealthy who wanted to be seen.

A typical day saw 2,000–3,000 spectators across the social spectrum — though groundlings outnumbered gallery patrons.

Plays performed

• Lord Chamberlain's Men — Shakespeare's company, the resident troupe.
• Premieres likely included Julius Caesar (1599), Hamlet (c.1600), Twelfth Night, Othello, King Lear (1606), Macbeth (c.1606).
• Mixed repertoire — comedies, histories, tragedies.

The 1613 fire and rebuild

• 29 June 1613 — during Henry VIII (a.k.a. All Is True), a stage cannon set fire to the thatched roof. Theatre burned to the ground in an hour. No one killed — though one man's breeches caught fire and were doused with ale.
• 1614 — rebuilt with tiled roof.
• 1642 — closed by Puritans during English Civil War.
• 1644 — demolished.

The reconstruction

• Sam Wanamaker (American actor) campaigned for reconstruction from 1949.
• 1997 — Shakespeare's Globe reconstructed near original site, using period materials and techniques.
• Today: working theatre and museum.

Significance for Elizabethan England

The Globe reveals:

• Wealth — investment of share-holders showed commercial confidence.
• Class mixing — groundlings and nobles together.
• Court patronage — Elizabeth's and James's love of theatre protected drama.
• Religious tension — Puritans hated the Globe; Crown supported it.
• Architecture — Renaissance Italian (round) influence; English carpentry tradition.
• Literacy — assumed audiences could follow dense verse.
• Politics — plays could critique power (Essex's rebels paid for Richard II before 1601 rebellion).

Examiner skill

When given a source (image, contemporary letter), identify:

• Provenance — who, when, why?
• Features visible — architecture, audience, action.
• Inference — what does it tell us about Elizabethan culture, society, politics?
• Limits — what can't we tell from this source?

Strong answers integrate site detail with wider Elizabethan context — religion, politics, social class.