Setting out on a new journey we decided to visit “The “Globe”. It is a replica of the original Shakespeare theatre that was destoyed by fire.
Interestingly enough if was built when an American came to UK looking for the site of that original theatre.
Here is a copy of that plague that he was so disappointed to find on the original site.
Getting photos inside the theatre was very difficult becuase it is, as the original was, an open air theatre. It has painsakenly been built with materials and methods that were available during that time. Very small modifications have been included and those were pointed out to us ( like lit fire routes, sprinkler system, those things that are now required by building code) but otherwise it was as if we were in the theatre at the time that Shakespeare lived and wrote.
These plans exist and were used in replicating the original theatre.
And a copy of Shakespearse’s will with original signature
I spent 17 years of my own life working in theatre costuming and of all the periods to costume my favorite,by far, was the Shakespearean period. In touring The Globe I was able to understand far better the “why” of what we did in costumes from that period. To understand the community and the lifestyle that was occurring at that time. The distribution of wealth and power. These things we touched on in class while learning to costume but to be in the surroundings, as it stood and was used, in that period made everything far more intersting and easy to understand.
There were no “costume departments” as we have in theatre today. Actors used their own clothes or were lent clothing from the rich to be used while on stage. Theatre was attended to be “heard” not “seen” as we have it presented to us in our time. Audience participation was expected and the audience stood right up next to the stage, or the upper class, rich people, could choose to sit ON the stage during the play. Many of the lines of the plays make sense when you realize what was going on in the community and the theatre houses at the time.
And here are some of the examples of the beautiful costumes that I got to feast my eyes on.
And what went into just getting into the dresses that were being woren at the time.
We would be exhausted after just getting dressed each day, let alone carrying all that weight around on us all day! And it was not just the woman, but the men too.
Enough to make us appreciate just pulling on our lightweight, machine washable, fashions of the present. Right?
