Owner of "The Theater" James Burbage, didn't want to pay a higher rent but the landlord was giving him trouble, and as it was, his theater was too small to fit the scores of theatergoers who came to see the plays of William Shakespeare. He had found a new site for his theater, located across the Thames River near two other famous London theaters, the Rose and the Swan.

Quietly Burbage arranged for a local carpenter, Peter Street, to go into the darkened theater at night and loosen the building joints. On the night of January 20, 1599, actors and friends of Burbage gathered outside the theater. Then they took and carried away all the wood and timbers. Crossing the frozen Thames, the group carried the pieces of the theater to its new location where it would be rebuilt. It stood on the Southern shore of the Thames River.

The Chamberlain's Company, who built the Globe, formed in 1594. At the time, it was one of only two licensed acting

Plays were important to the residents of London because they were an efficient way of getting a message to many people and entertain them at the same time. Play houses commonly drew thousands, who saw a supposedly fictitious plays often with political undertones. A common street individual could attend a play in the Globe, but their seats were on the ground in front of the stage, which was considered a poor place from which to view a play. The wealthier audience members sat in box seats around (inside) the ring wall of the theater. The peasants earned the name "groundlings" because of the fact that they had to watch from the ground.

There are some ideas as to the Globes appearance. Like many theaters, it was an octagonal-shaped building with an open air stage located on the inside that could hold as many as 3000 people. There were specially constructed trapdoors throughout the stage as well as a gallery above the stage for balcony scenes, exits and entrances. Because plays could only be performed according to the available light, performances were scheduled for the afternoons.The Globe was a success. Many days the London Bridge would be crowded with people going to the Globe to see one of its productions. Others would wait on the banks of the Thames for boatmen to ferry the

Some topics in this essay:
London Plays, Chamberlain's Company, Globe Theater, Peter Street, Henry VIII, Henry Shakespeare, London Bridge, William Shakespeare, James Burbage, James English, chamberlain's company, globe theater, original globe, performance henry, theater located, thames river, site theater, william shakespeare, plays performed, shakespeare plays,