Shakespeare's Globe and the Riverside Festival Stage

I like to think that RTSF has a strong connection with the Globe Theatre in London. After all, the festival stage in Lower City Park was designed with the Globe in mind (see below). But here's one more connection. Among other shows in the upcoming summer season, the newly restored Globe in London will present King Lear and The Merry Wives of Windsor. (Sound familiar?) Not only that, but in an interview with Dominic Dromgoole (The Globe's Artistic Director) he talks about his penchant for disorder and chaos, calling Lear Shakespeare's "biggest and messiest". Perhaps they'll use deconstructed clothing as well? Well, it just goes to show that great theatre minds think alike....



A Brief History of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre:

The original Globe Theatre was built in 1599 for the Lord Chamberlain's Men in Bankside on the Thames. Although the Globe was rebuilt on the same site after a fire, it remained home to Shakespeare's company until the closure of all theatres by England's Puritan administration in 1642. In 1644, no longer in use, it was demolished.

Elizabethan playhouses were not truly circular; they were polygonal buildings. A small portion of The Globe was excavated in 1989 and researchers discovered it was originally a 20 sided building with a 100 foot diameter. The original Globe was three stories high and seated up to 3,000 people. The nobles occupied the preferred, most expensive seats in the covered galleries and on the stage itself. Below them stood the "groundlings".

The new Globe Theatre was built 200 yards from the original. Founded after 25 years of work by Sam Wanamaker, it opened in 1997. The working replica seats 1,500 people between the galleries and the groundlings.

The Riverside Festival Stage is loosely based on Shakespeare's Globe Theatre of 1600. Festival Stage designer, Paul Sannerud, (also designing this summer's productions of The Comedy of Errors and The Winter's Tale) used elements such as the flag flying overhead (the Globe's way of announcing a performance), the circular configuration of the building, the open acting platform with a balcony above, and the positioning of the audience around the trust (3/4 round) stage. The major difference between the Globe and the Riverside Festival Stage is the use of lighting. The Elizabethan theatres performed their plays in the afternoon because the sun was all they had to light the outdoor stage.

A Virtual Tour of The Globe Theatre: While it makes me a little dizzy, it's very cool.