Shakespeare's Globe

This theatre you see near the River Thames is built from an act of theatrical rebellion that happened on a freezing December night in 1598. Shakespeare and his acting company, the Lord Chamberlain's Men, faced a crisis. Their landlord wanted to tear down their playhouse in Shoreditch. But the actors owned the timber, not the land. So they dismantled their theatre piece by piece, ferried the wood across the Thames, and rebuilt it on marshy ground along the South Bank. They called it the Globe, after Hercules carrying the world on his shoulders.

Shakespeare himself paid 10 pounds for a 12.5 percent share, making him both playwright and part owner. The wooden amphitheatre opened in 1599 and could pack in 3,000 people. For just a penny, you could stand in the yard. This is where Hamlet, Macbeth, King Lear, and Othello were first performed. On 29 June 1613, everything changed during a performance of Henry VIII. A stage cannon misfired and set the thatched roof ablaze.

The entire theatre burned down in an hour. One man's trousers caught fire but were quickly doused with ale. Nobody died, but the Globe was gone. The theatre standing here now opened in 1997, about 230 metres from where Shakespeare's original stood.