The exterior and interior of The Globe Theater, faithfully reconstructed based on archelogical evidence of the theater used by William Shakespeare to stage his plays.
In addition to morning and evening services at London's two Anglican cathedrals, we spent much of our time today taking in The Globe Theater. This is the palce where Shakespeare's plays originally were performed. It was faithful reconstructed 12 years ago on the foundations of the original site. Unlike many theater in London, it is an independent organization which takes no money from the government leaving it free, as our guide told us, to say anything it likes about the government. Shakespeare would no doubt have approved. We learned about the amazing acoustic techniques of the Elizabethans which allowed the smallest sounds to be heard anywhere in the theater. We learned that 3000 people crowded into the small space for each performance, including hundreds of "groundlings" who stood for the performances and were close enough to the action to throw food at players and parts they didn't like. We had an excellent tour guide who, on asking us where we were from, immediately connected Oregon with the quality work of the Ashland Shakespearean Festival--a high compliment indeed for our small state! Although we often question how much the girls get out of these grips, Olivia surprised us when we were examining a diorama of London looking for The Globe. Having tentatively identified it, Olivia demanded to know where the rest of the theaters were--and promptly named them without help. Apparently, there IS something going on upstairs!
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