But the Lord
Chamberlain's Men were having theatre trouble. The lease of the land on which
the Theatre stood was running out, and the landlord, Giles Alleyn, was not
anxious to renew it. The players would, it seemed, have to look elsewhere for
an outdoor theatre, but they were considering the possibilities of an indoor
one. James Burbage, who died in February, 1597, had himself seen that the
future of the drama might lie less with the popular audiences groundlings who
chewed sausages and garlic and booed and spat than with those cultivated
gentlemen who could appreciate a well‑turned epigram, a melodious line,
and an apt classical reference. (...)
At the moment October,
1597 the Lord Chamberlain's Men felt understandably insecure. Admittedly, since
James Burbage's death, Giles Alleyn had changed his tune somewhat concerning
the renewal of the lease of the ground on which the Theatre stood. Probably
owing to Dick Burbage's professionally persuasive powers, he had begun to hold
out vague hope to the players, but he could not be induced to put anything on
paper not even a signature to the new lease that Dick and his brother Cuthbert
had helpfully drawn up. Meanwhile, having no legal right to be on the premises,
the Men moved out of the Theatre. (...)
One clause in the
original lease of 1576 stated that the building erected on the Shoreditch site
should belong to the Burbages if it was removed before the date of expiry.
Cuthbert and Richard Burbage, believing that Alleyn would renew, let the
Theatre stand, assured that they would soon return to it. But when Alleyn came
along with a new lease in 1598, the conditions to it were so outrageous that
the Burbages refused to sign. Alleyn had expected this; indeed, he had so
contrived the lease that it was inevitable. His aim was to use the Theatre
building for his own ends. He did not want a renewal; he wanted his own land
and a free play‑house.
The Lord Chamberlain's
Men fumed. Then they began to look around for a new site. They found one near to
the Rose and their rivals, the Lord Admiral's Men. It was a garden plot near
Maid Lane, and they signed a lease that entitled them to move in on Christmas
Day. Capital was needed, of course. The Burbage brothers would provide half;
the other half was to be divided among Shakespeare, Heminges, Philips, Pope and
Kemp. This would give Shakespeare a tenth part of the new playhouse as well as
his share in the company itself. The contract for erecting the new theatre was
given to Peter Street, master builder. Where were they to get the timber?
There was only one
answer to that. During the Christmas holidays, when Alleyn was out of London, a
dozen or so demolition workers, with the Burbages at their head, went to the
old Theatre in Shoreditch and began tearing the structure down. Then they
transported it across the river on carts, piling up the timber on that garden
site on the Bankside. The last days of December were bitterly cold, and the
Thames froze over. But the work went on, and there was no need to use London
Bridge. It was like the Israelites crossing the Red Sea. God was on the side of
the Lord Chamberlain's Men.
All through the
following spring the workmen toiled overtime at erecting the finest theatre
that London had ever seen. The players knew what they wanted something
circular, a wooden 0, with all the old appurtenances which had made the
Elizabethan drama the swift, intimate, rhetorical medium it was: jutting apron,
curtained‑off recess or study, tarrass or gallery above, musicians'
gallery above that. A fair cellarage and a trapdoor. They yearned towards the
moment when the playhouse flag would be unfurled for the first time Hercules
with the world on his shoulders. The motto would be "Totus mundus agit
histrionem", roughly translatable as "All the world's stage".
The name of the theatre would be the Globe.
"Cuthbert Burbage and his crew did riotously assemble themselves together and then there armed themselves with divers and many unlawful and offensive weapons, as namely, swords, daggers, bills, axes, and such like, and so armed did then repair unto the said Theatre. And then and there, armed as aforesaid, in very riotous, outrageous, and forcible manner, and contrary to the laws of your Highness's realm, attempted to pull down the said Theatre, whereupon divers of your subjects, servants and farmers, then going about in peaceable manner to procure them to desist from that their unlawful enterprise, they, the said riotous persons aforesaid, notwithstanding procured then therein with great violence, not only then and there forcibly and riotously resisting your subjects, servants and farmers, but also then and there pulling, breaking, and throwing down the said Theatre in very outrageous, violent and riotous sort, to the great disturbance and terrifying not only of your subjects, said servants and farmers, but of divers others of your Majesty's loving subjects there near inhabiting."
(from S. Schoenbaum, William Shakespeare, A Compact Documentary Life,
Oxford 1977, p.208)
Maxine VIasman, 10:
"Nuttin'."
Christine Marshall, 10:
"He wrote plays."
Catherine Sammons 10:
"I think Shakespeare was a poet and wrote books and plays. My Dad's got
one, a play. When people make speeches, my Dad always says, 'That was
Shakespeare'."
Thacy Hennessey, 11:
"He lived in Queen Elizabeth's time. The Queen liked him. He wrote a lot
of books and plays, romances and mysteries. I've seen his plays on TV. They
were nice to watch."
Paul Edwards, 10:
"He was a famous playwriter. Everyone used to like him. He wrote mostly
about romance. There was a love potion and the first person who woke up and
drank it fell in love. We've got a book about it at home. Shakespeare used
words like hath and yea.
Peter Weston, 10: "He made films, He was in a lot of films. I
think he wrote Swan Lake, about swans dying. It was always on TV. Most of his
plays were about dancing. He had a lot of patience, if something went wrong
he'd scribble it out and start again."
Lynne Williams, 11:
"He was a famous writer ‑ Caesar Shakespeare."
Christine Parshouse, 11:
"I've heard his name: he acts."
Kevin Dowd, 11:
"He's a good actor and likes to write plays. He wears Tudor
costumes."
Catherine Price, 10:
"He wrote plays and sometimes acted. I think he came from London. He lived
in Victorian times. They were very good plays. Everyone liked them."
Alan Coughlan, 11:
"He opened a few theatres. He wrote a lot of plays, some funny. They were
about jesters. He wouldn't allow women to act. I think he went to college and travelled
to America. The plays were written in a very complicated language. I think it
was Latin."