“On this day (June 29th) in 1613, Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre burned to the ground. The thatched roof caught on
fire after a theatrical cannon misfired during a production of Henry
VIII. Only one man was hurt; his breeches caught on fire, but the
quick-thinking fellow put them out with a bottle of ale.
The Globe had been
the home of Shakespeare’s company, the Lord Chamberlain’s Men, since 1599;
previously, his plays had been performed in a house known simply as The
Theatre, but their lease expired in 1598. The troupe found a loophole: the
lease was for the land only, and the company owned the building, so the Lord
Chamberlain’s Men dismantled the old theater while the landlord was away for
Christmas and brought it with them across the Thames from Shoreditch to
Southwark. They used its timbers to build the framework of the Globe, which was
also unique in being the first theater built to house a specific theatrical
company, and to be paid for by the company itself.
After the fire, the
Globe was rebuilt in 1614, and it was in use until 1642, when the Puritans
closed all the theaters in London. The building was pulled down two years later
to make room for tenements. It was rebuilt in the 1990s, and except for
concessions made for fire safety, it is as close to the original Globe as
scholars and architects were able to make it.”
The Globe was re-constructed on the banks of the Thames in London not far from its original site and I took this photo from the Tate Modern Art Gallery some years ago
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