Globe Theatre - Dave's Midwestern Ohio Memories

Series of Guest Blogs by an out-of-state Fish Report reader originally from this area about fond memories of growing up in Midwestern Ohio during the 50’s & 60’s

Globe Theatre

On this day in history back in 1613, Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre burned to the ground during a performance of King Henry VIII, apparently by an errant cannon shot during the open-air performance that ignited the thatched roof of the wooden structure. The 3000 seat Globe had been built in 1599 by an organization led by William Shakespeare as a forum for staging his plays.

A year after the fire, the theatre was rebuilt, but was permanently closed and ordered demolished by the city of London in 1644 when the Puritans who controlled the government at the time banned all theatrical productions. Remember from your grade school history the Puritans of Plymouth Rock who sailed the Mayflower to New England in 1620 and celebrated the first Thanksgiving in the New World?

Actually they were not Puritans but Separatists, with the difference being the Puritans wanted to change the Church of England (established by King Henry VIII when the Catholic Church would not grant him a divorce) from within while the Separatists wanted to totally disengage themselves from the Anglicans.

A replica of the original Globe Theatre was reconstructed at the site of the original along the south side of London's Thames River in 1997. I had an opportunity to attend the Shakespearian play Midsummer Nights Dream at the playhouse while on a business trip to England in 1998.

The show was quite a treat to see, not only for the play but as an engineer to see firsthand how the open air theater was constructed in the round. Plus the play was not originally written in the Old Elizabethan English but instead in conventional language, which made it much easier to understand. The play was also interesting to me because it was about Greek mythology, a subject I had studied extensively during Latin classes in high school as described in this previous blogpost.

Because of Shakespeare’s use of the Old Elizabethan English, his literature does not really interest me although I can definitely appreciate his immense theatrical talent in light of the fact that his material is still popular some 400 years later. Here’s a primer on Shakespearian-speak that would have been great to have back in high school. I did read his biography recently, which actually wasn’t that complimentary, primarily because he was described as somewhat of an unethical character who did whatever it took for his personal benefit. He was especially harsh on his immediate family, depriving a sister out of her inheritance.

That all being said, Shakespeare and the Globe Theatre contributed immensely to our English-speaking culture for which I am grateful.

~~~~~~~~

Receive a weekly email whenever there is a new blog post. Just enter your email address in the designated spot below the blog and follow instructions to set up the notification.