The Globe Theatre was an early English theater in London. This theater has been renown all over the world because the works of playwright William Shakespeare were originally performed there. It is also well know because of the strange way it was built, destroyed and recreated throughout the years. .
Owner of "The Theater" James Burbage, didn't want to pay a higher rent but the landlord was giving him trouble, and as it was, his theater was too small to fit the scores of theatergoers who came to see the plays of William Shakespeare. He had found a new site for his theater, located across the Thames River near two other famous London theaters, the Rose and the Swan. .
Quietly Burbage arranged for a local carpenter, Peter Street, to go into the darkened theater at night and loosen the building joints. On the night of January 20, 1599, actors and friends of Burbage gathered outside the theater. Then they took and carried away all the wood and timbers. Crossing the frozen Thames, the group carried the pieces of the theater to its new location where it would be rebuilt. It stood on the Southern shore of the Thames River.
The Chamberlain's Company, who built the Globe, formed in 1594. At the time, it was one of only two licensed acting companies in London. Among the eight actors in the group six donated the funds used to build the theater. Two of which were Shakespeare and Richard Burbage. The Chamberlain's Company later changed its name to the King's Company when James took over the English throne. .
The Globe was the most important structure to Shakespeare's drama because most of his plays were written to be performed on the stage of the Globe. Shakespeare was a member of the Chamberlain's Company, so he then became a shareholder in the theater. The profits actors made off of their shares were their main means of support, as it was for Shakespeare. It was not his plays, as some people may think, which were often worth very little and ended up as property of the acting company.
