Essay: Explore the Globe Theater’s Bumpy History: From its Start in 1576 to the Puritan Shutdown in 1642

Shakespeare’s Globe Theater was one of the first dedicated performance spaces in London during the Elizabethan time period. The theater, along with the other early theaters, changed the way plays were performed and most importantly where plays were performed. It had a peculiar birth and multiple devastating deaths. The Globe Theater started as a rebirth of another theater and housed some of the finest shows of the time despite the political backlash and unfortunate physical disasters to the theater.
The pioneering theater wasn’t always the ‘Globe Theater’, in fact, it began as a different theater in a different location. Before the first dedicated performance spaces were built in London, the theater companies would travel and set up performances at markets or inn yards. The first theater was built in 1567 (Greenhill). Nine years later, “in 1576, it was replaced by The Theatre in Shoreditch…. The man who built the Theatre was James Burbage” (Greenhill 5). Richard Burbage and his brother Cuthbert owned the development that was the Theatre, but not the land. Their contract for the land would expire in 1598, and the landlord told them that it would not be renewed. When the year was almost to an end, they “dismantled the Theatre plank by plank. They transported the timbers across the Thames River to Bankside” (Greenhill 12). They built the original Globe Theater at Bankside. Chamberlain’s Men was the company that would perform there, of which Shakespeare was a member. Shakespeare’s Theater author Wendy Greenhill joked that the Globe, “must be the most productive piece of recycling in theatrical history” (Greenhill 12). The Globe was made from reused wood and was one of the first dedicated performance spaces.
The original Globe Theater had a short life of 14 years after a mishap caused the theater to burn and be rebuilt into the second Globe Theater. The roof of the Globe was made of grass, otherwise called a thatched roof. During a performance of Henry VIII, a canon was launched which caught the roof on fire. The rest of the theater subsequently burned. It cost 2,250 USD to rebuild the theater, making it the most expensive theater ever built. One of the visiting theater-goer described the theater as “the fayrest that ever was in England”, fayrest being a word the Shakespeare often used in his plays to mean beautiful. The second Globe continued to house the very successful Chamberlain’s Men company. The theater would go on to live another 28 years before yet another disaster. The second Globe continued to house the successful shows that Shakespeare and the Chamberlain’s Men put on and made quite the revenue too.
The theater was demolished again in 1642 after the Puritans (religious group) convinced Parliament to close the theaters. Thomas White, a Puritan, preached the following excerpt “I like the policy well if it holds still, for a disease is but lodged or patched up that is not cured in the cause, and the cause of plagues is sin, if you look to it well: and the cause sin are plays: therefore the cause of plagues are plays” (Baird 30). White alleges that the cause of the plague was plays. The Puritans believed that violence or mischievous behavior showcased in the plays would make the audience members violent or mischievous. The only reason the theaters were even kept open during Shakespeare’s time was probably because of Elizabeth I. She loved going to see shows (Baird). The Puritans also believed that pleasure of any kind was a sin (Greenhill). Because of the majority Puritans had in government, an act from the British Parliament demanded that all theaters be closed in 1642. The Globe was forced to close once again.
Due to mistakes in architecture/planning and outrageous accusations that theaters caused the plague, the Globe had a bumpy life. It is fascinating how they recycled the wood from a previous development and built a theater that, despite interruptions, would house some of the best works of literature the world has seen. Despite the political backlash and physical disasters, the Globe is still heralded as the place that Shakespeare’s finest works were presented and has a special place in history.