I set the “stage” in my last blog post that we had an incredible London view experience at the Aqua Shard but our final destination that day was the theatre – a famous play house but with an added twist.
The Shakespeare’s Globe, located in Bankside’s Cultural Quarter, is a wonderful re-creation of an outdoor Elizabethan theater. The theater is particularly interesting because it was constructed with tools and materials as it would have been in the actual time – including authentic animal hair and a thatched roof! Now this is not the first Globe Theatre where many of Shakespeare’s plays were first performed – that one actually burned to the ground when the thatched roof caught fire. But this Globe was built as close as possible to the original and only one street over.
Guided tours are offered daily of Shakespeare’s Globe. Inside there is also a small museum you can browse through on your own to learn more about the building and the history of Shakespeare himself. Tour prices range from 8 to 15 pounds. The open-air Globe theater season is spring through fall and seats 1600 people. Performance tickets are extremely reasonable ranging from 5 (standing) to 32 pounds on average.
But that’s not the theater I’m here to discuss. The real thrill, the theater my family and I went to, was actually right next door. It’s called the Sam Wanamaker Theater. This Jacobean indoor theater only seats 340 people, which allows for a pretty intimate experience compared to the 1600 seat Globe Theatre.
Opened in 2014, the Sam Wanamaker Theater was designed to replicate what the indoor playhouses looked like in the early 1600s, which Shakespeare and other English playwrights would have known as indoor theaters. What makes this venue especially interesting is that it is candle-lit. I’m not going to lie, I was a little worried and honestly confused when I noticed candles being hoist up towards the roof until I figured out what they were doing as the theater began to fill with a warm yellow glow. Wait a minute, didn’t the original Globe with a thatched roof like this one burn down? I figured there must be a very intricate invisible sprinkler system hidden somewhere in the thatching…or at least I hope there was! It nevertheless was intriguing to me that this was even possible!
The production we saw at this little theater was the Little Match Girl and it was amazing – sad, well-acted, and incredible funny at some parts. The actors did a phenomenal job in this wonderful venue. Just imagine, only 340 people are in the audience – the actors were so close they could almost touch us – and one wrong move on our part (like nodding off) and they would have called us out. They actually did a few times to audience members but all in good fun, which was honestly incredibly amusing and how I envisioned Shakespearean actors would have played with the audience back in the day. And remember, you are seeing a production as you would in the early 1600s, so be prepared for wooden seats, not fancy cushions – you are wealthy traders and businessmen after all and not royalty. The ambiance, however, overshadows the lack of comfort as the features of the small intimate theater (like the detailed ceiling) are reminders of years gone by.
The Sam Wanamaker Theater offers stage performances from October through April, but concerts are performed throughout the year. Ticket prices range from 7 to 62 pounds, which isn’t bad especially considering the added experience of the unique venue.
A production of Macbeth will be performed November 2018 – February 2019. How about that for some traditional Shakespeare in an incredibly authentic environment? If you can’t make a performance, tours are offered on select dates as allowed by performance and rehearsal schedules – check the website’s “day-to-day calendar” for availability. Tour prices range from 9 to 13.50 pounds.
If you are in London and not only love history but love theater, this is the place to go for all your theatrical needs. I hope you enjoy the experience as much as I did! If you’ve been, leave a comment down below on your experience and what production you got to see there. Talk to you next time!
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