Shakespeare's Globe Theater and the Groundlings

A View from the Balcony

CHECK OUT THE GORGEOUS CEILING

ME AS A HUMBLED GROUNDLING

Shakespaere Globe located in South London very clsoe to the Tate Modern.
It's easy to get to just take the London Bridge Tube and exit on Borough High Street.You can walk easily for about 5 minutes under the bridge pass Borough Market and past the old Clink prison.

Shakespeare’s Globe Trust is dedicated to the experience and international understanding of Shakespeare in performance. Uniquely its work celebrates the fact that the greatest dramatic poet in the English language lived and worked in London and that the cradle of English theatre was on Bankside by the River Thames.

The Theater is also dedicated to other live theater including the works by Shakespeare's contemparies like Marlowe and other Greek dramaturgs like Euripedes.When I went I saw As You Like It last week. The play are often consistent in acting, costume and stage and true to the the time period they portray. The next play to be seen is Love Labour's Lost.

At SHAKESPEARE'S GLOBE you can sit in the balcony section tickets range from £20 - £35 pounds,it's nice if you just want to relax, take in the elegantly painted frescoes and cuddle with your date ( especially in autumn it gets bloody cold).You must see the plays once as a groundling, tickets are remarkeably cheap, only £5. Back in Shakespeare's time you would have had to pay just a pence. Get your tickets early in the season online or at the box office, because tickets will sell out and if you're a bit of a sissy and don't enjoy standing up for 2 hours straight(kills your feet)you'll have to resort to be a humbled GROUNDLING

The Globe Theatre Groundlings stood in the Yard, or pit, to watch the plays being performed. This was the cheapest part of the theatre, there were no seats and the entrance price was 1d which was equivalent to about 10% of a days wages. The members of the audience who stood in the pit were often referred to as 'Groundlings'. I actually enjoyed Seeing Shakespeare's plays (Trollius and Cressida and then As You Like it), as a groundling more fun than in the balcony, because you are right in front of the actors and often they come off the stage and interact with the audience, which only adds to the heightened excitement and drama!!

The Shakespeare Globe season runs from April until October. Do try to see a play in the summer when the weather is still warm and balmy. Grab a picnic, bring some fried chicken or your veggie pasties and a pint, stash it all in your back pack and take in the rich language and poetry of Shakespeare, you won't regret it.


Shakespeare's Globe
http://www.shakespeares-globe.org
Bankside
21 New Globe Walk, London, SE1 9DT
020 7902 1400