Shakespeare's Globe
About Us
The Shakespeare Globe Trust
Shakespeare’s Globe Trust is dedicated to the experience and international understanding of Shakespeare in performance. Uniquely its work celebrates the fact that the greatest dramatic poet in the English language lived and worked in London and that the cradle of English theatre was on Bankside by the River Thames.
The Shakespeare Globe Trust gives expression to its purpose through three central and inter-dependent activities:
- First, the faithfully reconstructed Globe Theatre, forming the heart of an extensive exhibition about Shakespeare and the theatre of his day. This will appeal to the widest spectrum of visitors.
- Second, it will strive for an international reputation for performance excellence through it’s productions at the Globe Theatre, in performance conditions reproducing those of Shakespeare’s time. New work will also be stimulated.
- Third, the Centre will be an international focal point for the study of Shakespeare in performance. The facilities at Bankside will be a resource for students, teachers and academics from all over the world and Shakespeare’s Globe will provide educational programmes and publish material for students at all levels.
- The activities of Shakespeare’s Globe are self-financing in overall terms. Activities are therefore balanced in such a way that net income from the exhibition, box office and donations is sufficient to cover net deficits, for example on educational and academic work.
About the Globe
Founded by the pioneering American actor and director Sam Wanamaker, Shakespeare's Globe is a unique international resource dedicated to the exploration of Shakespeare's work, and the playhouse for which he wrote, through the connected means of education and performance.
Together, the Globe Theatre Company, Shakespeare's Globe Exhibition and Globe Education seek to further the experience and international understanding of Shakespeare in performance.
The Shakespeare Globe Trust
In 1949, when Sam Wanamaker came to London for the first time, he looked for the site of the original Globe and was disappointed not to find a more lasting memorial to one of the greatest playwrights in the world.
In 1970 he founded the Shakespeare Globe Trust, dedicated to the experience and international understanding of Shakespeare in performance. Its work celebrates the fact that the greatest dramatic poet in the English language lived and worked in London and that the cradle of English theatre was on Bankside by the River Thames.
In 1987, building work began on site when the six-metre deep foundations were laid. In 1993, the construction of the Globe Theatre itself began.
Sadly, Sam Wanamaker died on 18 December 1993. At that time, twelve of the fifteen bays had been erected. The plasterwork and thatching began the following year and were completed in 1997.
Shakespeare’s Globe
Shakespeare’s Globe is being developed for the enjoyment and exploration of Shakespeare and his contemporaries in performance. It is a world-class facility on the south bank of the River Thames, opposite St. Paul’s Cathedral, in London.
It consists of three enterprises which contribute to the overall aim. These are:
The Globe Theatre, with a professional theatre company incorporating international artists playing a summer season of plays.
Globe Education, which works with students of all ages exploring Shakespeare’s scripts in relation to the stage for which they were written.
Shakespeare’s Globe Exhibition, the most extensive exhibition in the world devoted to Shakespeare and his contemporaries in performance. Against a historical background of Bankside in Shakespeare’s times, it focuses on the Actor and others involved in staging the plays, the Architecture and the craftsmen who built and decorated the playhouse and the Audiences attending the performances.
These three activities together attract more than 750,000 people per annum to Shakespeare’s Globe.
The Globe Theatre is at the heart of the centre and is the focus of all three enterprises. It was completed in June 1997. To date, the cost of developing the International Shakespeare Globe Centre and Shakespeare's Globe Exhibition on this 2,100 square metre site has been £30 million. It is estimated that a further £20 million is needed to complete the outstanding phases of the Globe's capital programme.
