Ever since I began teaching Shakespeare, I’ve grown a fondness for him. I like what he did to theater, I like that he brought it to the masses instead of leaving it to the elites, I like that he was a little bawdy and dirty at times… reading more of his plays really opened my eyes and got me to see that Shakespeare was no where near as stuck up as boring as I assumed he would be.
The Globe Theatre, a recreation of the theatre Shakespeare’s plays were first performed in, was one of the things I actually made this trip to go and see. I’ve talked to students about it for years and now, I was going to see it with my own eyes.
It was my own theatrical spiritual journey… like going to my Mecca or Woodstock. I just wish I would have had time to watch a play while I was in London.
I have arrive’d!The lower level where the tours gathered before going inside.A collection of props.This sonnet is my favorite. I love how Shakespeare basically roasts his wife and then rescues himself only in the last two lines. Smooth, Will. Very smooth.Entering the theater.And here I am!Stagehands were busy hanging banners and cleaning the stage for a seven hour marathon of shows they were doing later that night.The Globe is/was open-air and so plays could only be performed at night. That’s not a limitation anymore as there is, you know… electricity and stuff.We are seated in the second story seats where the nobility and upper class would sit. On the stage floor, the groundlings, the poor and lower class peasants, would watch the play standing up. In Shakespeare’s time, they were called “Pennystinkers” because they only paid a penny to get in and, well…OMG… I’m so happy to be here. I want to stand on the stage, but they won’t let me!A Lego Globe Theater in the gift shop… merely a display, not for sale.Same goes for the Globe made out of Kinex.Out! Out damned tourist!
Jason Gaston 