Shakespeare's Globe
Shakespeare's Globe accessibility information
Access phone number: 020 7902 1409
Access email address: [email protected]
Accessible toilets situated: Piazza level, Lecture Theatre level
Number of Wheelchair spaces: Stalls x1 Circle x3
Sound amplification: Induction Loop
Access from street to foyer: Level access
Access from theatre foyer to seats (number = stairs): 28 to Middle Gallery, 50 to Upper Gallery, lift to main theatre level
Level access: Yes
Stair lift, lift or ramp available: Lift to Circle, Ramps to Stalls
The Shakespeare's Globe is owned or operated by The Shakespeare Globe Trust
What date did the Shakespeare's Globe open?
12th June 1997
Who designed the Shakespeare's Globe?
Theo Crosby, Buro Happold, Boyden & Co
What was the first production at the Shakespeare's Globe?
Shakespeare's Henry V
Other Shakespeare's Globe facts
Shakespeare's Globe is a reconstruction of the original Globe Theatre. It was founded by American actor and director Sam Wanamaker and is built about 230 metres from the site of the original theatre. The original Elizabethan Theatre called the Globe was built in 1599 by the playing company the Lord Chamberlain's Men, to which Shakespeare belonged. It was destroyed by fire on 29 June 1613 and rebuilt by June 1614. It was closed in 1642 and demolished in 1644. A reconstruction of an indoor Jacobean playhouse, called the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, is built next to Shakespeare's Globe and opened on 15 January 2014 with a production of The Duchess of Malfi.
Shakespeare’s Globe was founded by the pioneering American actor and director Sam Wanamaker, and celebrates Shakespeare’s transformative impact on the world by conducting a radical theatrical experiment.
Shakespeare’s Globe is a replica of Shakespeare’s original Bankside playhouse.
The new Globe Theatre officially opened in 1997, although workshops and performances had taken place on the stage since 1995.
Shakespeare called his theatre a ‘wooden O’ and like his historic playhouse our Globe Theatre is a 360° auditorium. With no roof over the central yard, the theatre is open-air and audiences who attend performances and tours are told to dress for the weather! Events will go ahead in rain, shine and snow.
Seats are arranged in galleries all around the wide, open stage, so spectators and performers can see each other at all times. The Globe Theatre is a space where the audience has always been a vital component of the performance.
Also part of the Shakespeare’s Globe complex is the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse.
Past shows that have played at the Shakespeare's Globe include:
Mother Courage and Her Children
Novello Theatre
Apollo Victoria Theatre
Empress Museum
The Tom Stoppard Theatre (formerly the Duke of York's Theatre)
Savoy Theatre
Shaftesbury Theatre
