Performanaces in the original Globe.

The Globe theatre that Shakespeare knew was a noisy, smelly place that could be crammed with around 3000 people. It would have been an atmosphere so totally removed from modern theatres as to make it almost unrecognisable as the home of so many of Shakespeare's greatest works. It was however the kind of theatre that Shakespeare knew best, and it was with such a place in mind that he penned the majority of his plays.

The theatre was divided up into several distinct sections, and the types of people to be found in each part would have been quite different. The Globe catered to everyone; common people, merchants, professionals, soldiers, and even the aristocracy. Shakespeare in his turn had to do the same, creating plays that would appeal to every strata of society.

The cheapest portion of the theatre was the yard that abbuts onto the stage on three sides. It would have cost 1 penny for a place in the yard, and as such was affordable to almost everyone. The people who paid for such a place would tend to be the poorest playgoers, such as the city's common labourers. They were known as Groundlings and 1000 of them could be squeezed into the Globe's yard. They could usually expect to share that space with members of various professions such as theives and prostitutes.

The three galleries between them held another 2000 attendies. Unlike the yard, they, like the stage were covered against the elements. They also had the added luxery of seating. For these benefits you would have had to pay 2 pennies, and could hire a cushion for a third. Although all three galleries cost the same to sit in, the middle gallery was considered the highest status. The lower gallery was still uncomfortably close to the yard, while the upper gallery had a reputation as a meeting place for unsavoury business deals, and working ground for more of the local prostitutes.

The most expensive seats in the house were those known as the Lords Rooms. They were located immediatedly above and behind the stage in the area also used by the musicians. Although such a location may not seem ideal to the modern day theatregoer, these seats had a number of key advantages to the rich of the day. First, they were well removed from the masses in the rest of the theatre. Second, they were themselves on display, so they could show off the latest fashions, and even the fact that they were rich enough to sit there. Third, although they could not see the play very well, they could hear it. This last point is actually extremely significant, since it was to hear plays that Elizabethans went to the theatre; there are many references of people going to hear a play rather than going to see one in the literature of the time. It is from this concept that the modern word audience is derived. Places in the Lords Rooms would have cost 6 pennies each.

The actors (always all male) would have not have worn costumes as such, instead they tended to wear clothing cast off by the aristocracy and sold on by their servants. There also would have been little in the way of props. The female roles were acted by young boys before their voices broke, as women were forbidden by law to act on a public stage.

Being an open-air theatre, the Globe could only be used during the Summer. In the Winter, Shakespeare and his company performed in an indoor theatre north of the Thames. A number of his plays therefore would have been first performed there and only later moved to the Globe.

Shakespeare himself was an actor as well as playwright and probably taylored a few of his roles to suit his own stage skills. It was however neither his writing, nor acting skills that were the direct source of his income, for actors and playwrights were both poorly paid positions to hold. Instead it was because he was a good businessman and held a share in the company itself. Although without his writing skills they would not have done nearly so well.