Funding Shakespeare's Globe Theatre.

The Shakespeare's Globe complex has come to fruition as the result of a vast amount of Good Will. No government monies have helped in the raising of its graceful towers, every inch has come about as a result of the generousity of a huge number of people.
As you walk about the site, everywhere you look are inscribed the names of people and organisations that have contributed to its being. On the piazza outside the theatre proper there are some two thousand flagstones engraved with the names of people who each donated £300 pounds to the project. Within the mighty oak beams of the auditorium, mounted on the ends of each row of benches are set red and gold plaques listing all of the people who choose to sponser a seat at a cost of £500 pounds each, other such bench marks will be present within the Inigo Jones Theatre when it too is completed on the other side of the site. Overlooking the main foyer can be found a list of the 1000 club members, who donated £1000 pounds to the project and who form an exclusive lifelong fellowship that will never exceed 1000 members.
It is not only the rich that have contributed however. Thousands of visitors have choosen to sponser a brick, or a floorboard, or an oak peg, at the cost of only a few pounds. Every little bit really does help. The Globe would not, indeed could not exist but for the incredable generosity of so very many people. Even now, with the Theatre itself completed the fund raising continues, for although the centre piece of the site, the Globe itself has been finished, much of the remainder of the complex still needs a great deal of work. The 300 seat Inigo Jones Theatre which is intended to operate during the long winter seasons when the weather is far too inclement for the open air Globe, remains an empty shell. The vast exibition planned for the cavernous basement is still largely a dream. And parts of the backstage area and the offices overlooking the Western Piazza have still a very long road ahead of them before they can be called complete.
There are many ways that you can contribute to the completion of the project. I would urge any visitor to give generously, and to continue to fuel the spirit of good will that that has already brought us so very far.
Larger Donations
Item Cost
Sponsership of a Costume £100.00
A Bench in the Globe Theatre £500.00
A Bench in the Inigo Jones Theatre £300.00
Membership of the 1000 Club £1000.00

Smaller Donations
Item Cost
A Brick £2.00
A Walling Lath £2.50
An Oak Peg £5.00
A Bundle of Norfolk Thatch £10.00
A Floorboard £20.00
A Baluster £50.00
A Mortice and Tenon Joint £50.00
An Oak Tree £2.00
Join the Friends of Shakespeare's Globe Click here for details
A number of the items above in the Large Donations section are also available using Gift Aid, Deeds of Covenant or in fixed annual installments. For full details you should contact the Shakespeare Globe Trust, which is a registered educational cultural charity: #266916.

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This page first appeared in October 1998.

Last update by R. Thomson - 15th April 1999.

I welcome your comments and suggestions, however please note that I am not an official representative of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre or the International Shakespeare's Globe Centre. Please read my disclaimer. If you do wish to contact me regarding this website then you will find my contact details on the Website Updates page.

© 1998 R. Thomson