A Brief History of Theaters / The Globe

The Red Lion was the first professional playhouse, built in 1567. This was followed by the construction of The Theatre, the first permanent playhouse, in 1576. The Globe was not built until some years later in 1599 by Shakespeare and his acting troupe, the Lord Chamberlain’s Men. Shakespeare himself held a share in the theater’s success.

The Globe’s stage consisted of three main areas: the heavens, Earth, and Hell. The ceiling above the stage represented the Heavens, and featured a trap door through which performers could descend. The stage itself signified Earth. A trapdoor in the stage lead to Hell, or the pit below the stage. All the world truly is a stage, if that stage is in the Globe.

With the move from outdoor stages to indoor stages, 17th century playwrights (Shakespeare especially) found their scene and special effects opportunities drastically increase. With outdoor stages, where the plays were performed in broad daylight, most scenes took place in daylight as well. Most of Shakespeare’s earlier plays were therefore comedies. Indoor stages, however, allowed the use of more night-time scenes. Furthermore, with the advent of better special effects, Shakespeare could do things like create convincing storm effects. Because he was a “whore” for such effects, it is no surprise that Shakespeare wrote more tragedies to take advantage of the location switch. It is important to note that this was just one factor in his transition from comedies to tragedies.

Theaters were eventually moved into the suburbs, outside the city limits, where other exciting recreational opportunities such as prostitution, bear baiting, and homosexuality were available.