"The flag showed that the theatre was open. Because the theatre had no roof over the central area, bad weather meant that the show had to be cancelled. Even the greatness of Shakespeare was no match for the English weather!"
"The hut was used to store stage equipment. It could also be used for special effects. For instance actors could seem to fly if they were raised up by the lifting gear stored here."
"As you can see, the stage jutted out into the audience. This type of theatre was very intimate as the audience was very close to the actors. Behind the stage was another small acting area, and the balcony could also be used. Very little was done in the way of stage decoration, and the audience relied on the words of the play to fill in details of the setting etc."
"Around the outer rim of the theatre were three rows of gallery seating. These were more expensive than places in the pit. Some of these galleries were cut off into private rooms like a box in a modern theatre. It must have been rather frightening for an inexperienced actor to have the audience piled up three deep all around him. For old hands like Shakespeare himself, it was no doubt an incentive to produce a stirring performance."
"In Shakespeare's day, plays were performed during the day. These windows would have let in light, but, of course, most light would have poured in through the open roof in the centre of the theatre."
"Ordinary spectators were located here in the pit. There was no seating, and no shelter if the weather was poor. Admission to the pit was one penny a time. These were mainly lower class people and they were certainly often noisy and boisterous. Some of the cruder humour and coarse jokes in the plays would have been written with this section of the audience in mind."
"These doors led to another small acting area. It could have been used for small, interior scenes."
"This cut-away picture shows some of the details of the way the Globe was constructed. It was of course built entirely of wood, and would have been extremely inflammable. In fact, the theatre burnt down in 1613, but it was later rebuilt on the same spot."
"It is not clear what you are pointing at. Please try again."
