Lily's London Adventure: A Tourist's History Lesson, Part II

Before I graduated from my humble Catholic School, my 8th grade teacher, Sister Rose, insisted that I apply to Camp Orbit. Camp Orbit was a theatre education program held at one of San Diego’s premiere play companies, The Old Globe Theatre.

The intensive 5-week program encompassed everything about the theatre and its inner workings: Acting, writing, movement, costuming, marketing, advertising, stage combat, make-up, and tons more. I was fortunate enough to receive one of the scholarships that summer. From mid-June to July, the stages and innards of the Globe were my playground. And like all good theatre programs, performance night was what we were aiming for. During performance night, I performed with my troupe a portion of the “All the World’s a Stage” monologue from the play “As You Like It.”

And that’s where my fascination with Shakespeare began. Since then, I’ve enjoyed his other plays (most notably “MacBeth” and “Titus Andronicus.”). While my teenage classmates struggled with understanding Elizabethan English, I was busy finding the meaning behind the meanings. While they toiled away a few nights on their essays, my first draft 2-hour efforts were getting the highest grades in the class.

Yeah, I was the typical nerd…but I liked the man’s work!

So it was with great pleasure that our next stop on the tourist route was Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre and Exhibition across the river in Bankside. Admittedly, this was Lenny’s gig – being the English teacher between us (and scheduled to teach the History of Theatre upon our return). But I also felt like I had a stake in this visit too.

“You Mean This Isn’t the REAL Globe?”

When you go someplace historically inclined like London, you kind of take things as the truth. It being the modern day and age, we really should know better. Thank goodness Stephanie was our tour guide. Our one hour tour of the theatre itself was informative and fun. Most of all, we were able to get some misinformation out of the way.

First of all…this isn’t THE Globe. That honor goes to the one built 200-yards down the road in 1599. The original Globe unfortunately burned down in 1613 in a special effects accident. The thatch roof caught on fire when a cannon that was used for sound effects shot some of the gun powder on the roof. The theatre burned completely to the ground one hour later. It was rebuilt a year later, but was destroyed as years went on.

Funnily enough, the drive to begin building a new Globe Theatre was not started by venerable Englishmen. The current Globe effort was spearheaded by an American actor name Sam Wanamaker. The dream started in 1949 when the young actor went to the Bankside location looking for a monument for Shakespeare’s theatre. What he found was a blackened bronze plaque in a pub. But it wasn’t until 1995, after decades of fundraising, legal battles, and suspense (sounds like a good Shakespeare play), that the new Globe Theatre open its doors.



“All the World’s a Stage.”

When the tour started, we were asked to stand outside of the structure. There we got some hard facts on the theatre. The building is made completely out of wood; oak to be exact. We were told by Stephanie that each one of the support beams that ran from top to bottom of the Globe was ONE tree. Except for a few windows to keep the noise out of the theatre, there was nothing but wood to hold it together! Wood pegs and bricks (for the foundation) were the materials that were used. “If Shakespeare would arrive right now,” commented our tour guide, “He would probably say ‘Yep. Just as I left it.’”

Finally, the moment we’d all been waiting for had come. Stephanie opened up the big wood double door of the building and let us through into the theatre itself. I can tell you, the moment I stepped into the center of the theatre was amazing. Anyone with one ounce of theatre in their blood can tell the rush of the moment standing there. Sappily, it was a religious experience for me. As everyone filed in, I stood in my spot looking upward and started whispering the verses I learned long ago at theatre camp:

“All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women merely players:
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages…”

I couldn’t help it. It just felt right. Perhaps a bit melodramatic…but it felt right.



“The Queen Didn’t Go To the Theatre!”

Our theatre history lesson continued with a detailed explanation of the beautifully built stage and seating area. Once again, our tour guide emphasized that everything we saw was made of wood. The stage itself was awesome. It was oak…but it was painted to look like marble! And from where we stood, you really couldn’t tell the difference.

The artwork was FABULOUS. I especially loved the ceiling of the stage, which symbolically represented the sky (see above photo). You had the sun, the stars, the moon, and the zodiac signs. Everything you need for the heavens!

We also learned that back in Shakespeare’s time, where you sat was a sign of your socio-economic status. What we would consider bad seats, were the most prized seats of the time. You see, back in Elizabethan England, the rich were treated like celebrities. They sat in the second and third tier of the theatre, mostly off too the side. But from these seats, you really couldn’t see anything. The REALLY rich and famous actually sat on stage in the balcony that overlooked the action.

Funny…all that money and all you could see was the back of the actor’s head!

Finally, there were the Groundlings. These were the poor people and they stood or sat on the ground in front of the stage during the play, hence their nickname. They paid a penny to get in…but they got to bring their own feed. The tradition of the Groundlings lives on in today’s Globe. While admission has gone up a bit (darn you inflation!), you are still allowed to bring your own food and drink to the theatre. But as Stephanie put it, “But why would you? It’d just distract from the play!”

As we sat in the second tier, the question of where the royal box was came up. Surprisingly, we were told that Queen Elizabeth didn’t have special seats. The dramatization in the movie “Shakespeare in Love” was completely fictional. Q.E. the First never went to the theatre. The theatre came to HER.

See…it’s good to be the Queen. And for these two theatre wonks, today…it was great to be a tourist!