Holly Williams investigates the process of recreating a Jacobean candlelit theatre in 2013 and examines The Globe’s enduring success.
'Oh, for a muse of fire that would ascend, the brightest heaven of invention…" So begins William Shakespeare's Henry V; but it was a wish that would come back to haunt the playwright with unfortunate literalism a few years (and Henrys) down the line.
Four hundred years ago this week, on 29 June, during a performance of Henry VIII at the Globe theatre on Bankside, wadding from a stage canon did indeed ascend up through the theatre's 'wooden O' – setting fire to that circular thatched roof. The Globe burnt to the ground; a contemporary account records that the blaze "burned so furiously, as it consumed the whole house, all in less than two hours, the people having enough to do to save themselves". Not that the Jacobeans were too precious about it: the Globe was rapidly rebuilt – only this time, with a tiled roof. It lasted till 1644, when it was demolished after the Puritans closed England's theatres.
'Oh, for a muse of fire that would ascend, the brightest heaven of invention…" So begins William Shakespeare's Henry V; but it was a wish that would come back to haunt the playwright with unfortunate literalism a few years (and Henrys) down the line.
Four hundred years ago this week, on 29 June, during a performance of Henry VIII at the Globe theatre on Bankside, wadding from a stage canon did indeed ascend up through the theatre's 'wooden O' – setting fire to that circular thatched roof. The Globe burnt to the ground; a contemporary account records that the blaze "burned so furiously, as it consumed the whole house, all in less than two hours, the people having enough to do to save themselves". Not that the Jacobeans were too precious about it: the Globe was rapidly rebuilt – only this time, with a tiled roof. It lasted till 1644, when it was demolished after the Puritans closed England's theatres.