Critics and audiences love this new spy thriller The Secret Theatre by Anders Lustgarten, which is playing in the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse until Saturday 16 December.
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(Photography: Marc Brenner)
We are delighted to announce full casting for Caroline Byrne’s forthcoming production of All’s Well That Ends Well opening in the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse on Thursday 11 January.
The full cast comprises Paige Carter, Nigel Cooke, Imogen Doel, Martina Laird, Buchan Lennon, Louise Mai Newberry, Shaun Mason, Will Merrick, Rob Pickavance, Hannah Ringham and Ellora Torchia.
Sarah from Borough Market Choir wanted to tell you about how rehearsals are going for their upcoming event at Shakespeare’s Globe this December…
This year’s concert theme revolves around food and community spirit, which shines through in and around the SE1 area. The song we’ve chosen to sing aims to represent this spirit and our heritage of Borough Market Choir, and with input from some of our very own talented choir members and family we’ve created a version of ‘Put a Little Love in Your Heart’ themed around food and community.
Some of us know the original song, some of us don’t! And it’s possibly harder for those that do as our first challenge is to remember the different lyrics! With our fun-loving spirit, passion for singing and enthusiasm to learn, we can’t wait to perform this amongst such a wonderful community.
Our second rehearsal coincided with Borough Market Choir’s 6th birthday! A brilliant achievement for us, and apt that we’re rehearsing for a concert which was where it all started for our choir six years ago! Our Musical Director and co-founder, Esmeralda Conde Ruiz, who was working at Borough Market at that time, was asked to set up a community singing project, encouraging traders to take part in this community venture…. it all resulted in performing at A Concert for Winter in 2011.
This will be the 5th time we’ve performed and it remains just as special for original members of the choir as for those who have recently joined. For some new members it will be their first performance!
An exciting opportunity for all involved!
It’s been a few months since we last blogged about our Southwark Youth Theatre, and in that time, much has changed! Company Manager Dorothy tells all…
New company, new practitioners, new company manager (hello - that’s me!).
After two rounds of auditions back in October, we began meeting each Saturday morning in the Globe’s Sackler Studios where, under the tutelage of our Globe Education Practitioners, the company spend two hours learning and practising skills in text work, movement, improvisation and voice.
The fundamental principles of the Southwark Youth Theatre are as follows: five core values, four Globe Education Practitioners, three sharing performances, two fabulous stages, one excellent company. We aim to bring our core values (Respect, Connect, Support, Perform, Commit) into everything we do. Our four Practitioners (Kate, Sarah, Jack and Scott) are professional actors with years of experience working at the Globe who lead our weekly youth theatre sessions.
Our sharing performances are held at the end of our three terms on our two fabulous stages (the Globe and Sam Wanamaker Playhouse) and performed by our brilliant company of 10-18 year olds who live or learn in the borough of Southwark. This year, all of our sharing performances will be based around a great Shakespearean tragedy: King Lear. With eye-gouging and treachery aplenty, this is a story guaranteed to entertain audiences and performers alike, but before tackling it head on, the company have to build up the skills they will need for their final performances.
Our last two sessions have been particularly exciting; focussing on the practical skills of stage combat and puppetry. Under the guidance of Jack and Sarah, the company built their own newspaper puppets, and learnt how to heighten their focus to make the puppets breathe, move and think. The following week, they put their gladiatorial heads on and choreographed a short fight scene under the watchful eye of fight director Marcello.
Once everyone had got their breath back, we then hopped on a train and headed off for our first external trip of the year: Devil You Know Theatre Company’s production of Macbeth at the Bussey Building, in Peckham Rye. During the Q&A session after the performance, the Youth Theatre Company took the opportunity to pick the actors’ brains on everything from how to learn lines, to how to approach playing a character who is morally repulsive.
Next Saturday we shall meet again (in thunder, lightning and in rain) to begin preparing for our December sharing in earnest. So, as we prepare to leave Birnam Wood and venture once again towards the cliffs of Dover, all that remains for me to say is thank you very much for reading, and would you please join me in welcoming the Southwark Youth Theatre Company of 2017-18!
Joining us for our next Read Not Dead event on 3 December (Massinger’s The Bashful Lover) are:
Andy Secombe, Beth Eyre, Charlie Ryall, Clark Alexander, James Wallace, Jeremy Booth, Joe Eyre, Karen Whyte, Lydia Bakelmun, Oliver Lavery, Peter Wicks, Robbie Capaldi, Sam Jenkins-Shaw and Timothy Blore.
We’ve decorated the tree and the mince pies are out (and nearly gone already)!
As we’re officially feeling festive, we thought we’d throw some Christmas Deals your way, for you to enjoy yourselves this December, or purchase as gifts for others.
- A Midsummer Night’s Dream Afternoon Tea and Tour Special Offer (was £46.50, now £35.00)
- Gentlemen’s Afternoon Tea and Tour Special Offer (was £46.50, now £35.00)
- Entrance to Shakespeare’s Globe Exhibition & Tour Offer (was £17.00-£13.50, now £10.00-£7.50)
Browse all Gift Experience packages →
Buy tickets for the Exhibition & Tour →
Pictured: Gentleman’s Afternoon Tea
Here are a few photos from The Little Matchgirl, which opened this month at Bristol Old Vic, and plays there until 14 January 2018.
Then we are on to: Theatr Clwyd, Chichester Festival Theatre, Oxford Playhouse, Theatre Royal Plymouth, Buxton Opera House, Liverpool Everyman & Playhouse, Malvern Theatres, and home to Shakespeare’s Globe, London (27 March - 21 April).
We hope you can join us on our journey!
See more photos on Facebook >>
Photography by Steve Tanner
As I embark on a journey of a lifetime and look forward to the future as the next Artistic Director of Shakespeare’s Globe, it feels important to take a moment to look back on its past.
Twenty years ago The Globe began as the most radical of theatrical experiments and over time, we have become more aware of just how passionately people really feel about this unique building and the most exquisite of playwrights.
We know what we are but know not what we may be.
Throughout the interview process I was asked a number of times, what makes Shakespeare’s Globe so special? The answer - that almost every person who has ever stepped foot inside the space will give you - is… the audience, the other character in all of the plays. Only in front of the audience do the plays really come to life and I think we have only just begun to scratch the surface of what is revealed about the plays when they are performed in those playhouses.
Particularly in The Globe: in the shared light, and the unprecedented embrace of that wooden O, in the collective imagination and the connection and communication between story, storyteller and audience, that is where the plays breathe. It is the exploration of these plays, this experiential and sensorial encounter, in these unique, honest and vulnerable playing conditions, that will lie at the heart of my vision.
I do believe that he is our greatest humanist writer. He writes for anyone, about everyone, and on stage as well as off we will be holding a mirror up to nature, offering a true reflection of humanity, and prove that Shakespeare is about all of us and for all of us. And as we celebrate writers of the past we must also look to the future. A new writing venue 400 years ago, it will continue to be a new writing venue today as we all go on the hunt for our next Shakespeare.
As an organisation that receives no statutory funding, we can only succeed in our mission because of our friends; people like you. Your participation makes all the difference to the fibre and fabric of our work. Connecting people with Shakespeare, all people, especially young people, through our theatre and educational programme, has been at the heart of Shakespeare’s Globe since we opened in 1997. I hope to share the importance of all our work more closely with our audience, and particularly with our members.
Friends enjoy concessionary rates to our diverse programme of events including Company Q&As, our Read Not Dead series and family events for all ages. And when my first season is announced on 4th January 2018, Friends will enjoy priority booking for a Summer season that promises to be a celebration of Shakespeare, The Globe and our local, national and international communities.
As The Globe begins the next chapter of its history, I feel as excited as I am overwhelmed by the potential and possibilities contained within Shakespeare’s plays, these incredible playhouses, and the human beings that devote their time and imaginations to work and play in these unique and unprecedented playhouses.
As Shakespeare said, ‘Thy friendship makes us fresh’, and I sincerely hope that you might consider joining me and The Globe as we begin this incredible adventure.
With best wishes,
Michelle Terry
Artistic Director Designate
Become a Friend for Priority Booking in 2018 >>
Buying as a gift? Purchase before 19 December to receive before Christmas.
The cast for The Captive Queen, playing in the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse in 2018, will include:
Angela Griffin, Barrie Rutter, Dharmesh Patel, Karan Gill, Naeem Hayat, Neerja Naik, Safiyya Ingar, Sarah Quist, Sarah Ridgeway, Selva Rasalingam and Silas Carson.
We are open as usual during the holiday season, but we will be closed 24 and 25 December. The Exhibition will be open 11.00am – 17.00pm on 26 December, with tours of the Globe Theatre running from 11.30am.
Check our website for more information →
See special offers available throughout December →
Join cabaret artist Meow Meow for an alternative festive show.
Catch Romantics Anonymous before it closes on 6 January.
All’s Well That Ends Well, our first Shakespeare play of 2018, opens 11 January.
Enjoy some classical music in the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse with a reimagining of Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons and Brodsky Quartet’s End Games series of concerts.
Treat your whole family to the magical experience of Emma Rice’s The Little Matchgirl in the spring.
The Captive Queen takes centre stage at the beginning of February, with Barry Rutter as The Emperor.
We have a wide range of presents and souvenirs in our Shop.
Buy a Globe Membership before 19 December to guarantee arrival before Christmas.
We have a special offer on our Tea & Tour packages this winter. See more →
Today we had that #FridayFeeling. Today we played, #ShakespeareOrNot.
We shared twelve quotes on Twitter throughout the day and you had to guess who said them first - the brilliant Bard, or someone else.
Thank you for taking part, and if you got the answer correct… bravo!
1. “Incredible things -
Magic, madness, heaven, sin…”
Taylor Swift, Blank Space
2. “Love all, trust a few…”
William Shakespeare, All’s Well That Ends Well
3. “To doubt
Is worse than to have lost…”
Philip Massinger, Duke of Milan
4. “Pity the plight of young fellows…”
Plan B& John Cooper Clarke, Pity The Plight
5. “Give every man thy ear, but few thy voice…”
William Shakespeare, Hamlet
6. “With great power comes great responsibility…”
Uncle Ben (Spiderman)
7. “When in Rome, do as the Romans do…”
Saint Ambrose
8. “Every man has his fault…”
William Shakespeare, Timon of Athens
9. “The pen is mightier than the sword…”
Edward Bulwer-Lytton
10. “The world’s mine oyster…”
William Shakespeare, The Merry Wives of Windsor
11. “No man is an island…”
John Donne
12. “It does not do to dwell on dreams…”
Professor Dumbledore, J. K. Rowling
This summer we will enter an exciting new phase of our story in a
spirit of curiosity and enquiry.
Continuing our radical theatrical experiment, building on past achievements and
exploring new directions, our programme for 2018 seeks to
delight and inspire, to surprise and challenge.
2018’s Shakespeare productions include Hamlet, As You Like It, The Two Noble Kinsmen, The Winter’s Tale, Othello and Love’s Labour’s Lost.
We’ll also present three new plays (Emilia, Eyamand Nanjing), a national and international tour of Shakespeare and other performances and events at our home in London and elsewhere. Various festivals and events will explore censorship, race, refuge& refugees and Shakespeare’s sonnets.
Today we also reveal our exciting new visual identity inspired by this ‘wooden O’ and our cause.
Become a Member to access priority booking
‘And let us… on your imaginary forces work’
Henry V, Prologue
Read the magical story behind the Globe’s new visual identity
#Globe2018
We’re delighted to announce the cast for Playing Shakespeare 2018 with Deutsche Bank, Much Ado About Nothing.
Philip Correia (Claudio), Emilio Doorgasingh (Leonato), Tyler Fayose (Don Pedro), Charlyne Francis (Donna Joan), Aruhan Galieva (Hero), Fiona Hampton (Beatrice), Ben Mansfield (Benedick), Jordan Mifsud (Borachio), Charlotte Mills (Dogberry/ Pastor Francis), Rachel Winters (Margaret/Verges).
Tickets are on salefor family performances.
Caroline Byrne (Director of The Taming of the Shrew, 2016) brings this dark, twisted and dangerous interpretation of All’s Well That Ends Well to the candlelit intimacy of the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse from 11 January - 3 March 2018.
Pictured: the cast, in rehearsal, photography by Marc Brenner.
In this new series of blogs, we’re going to take you behind the scenes of our Guides Tours & Exhibition. Open all year round, the tour gives you an opportunity to learn more about this unique building and its most famous playwright, Shakespeare.
In our first blog post, Tour Guide Ffion Jones discusses why she believes that Shakespeare’s Globe is the perfect space to share theatre experiences with others.
Whilst studying for my Masters in Creative Writing, I was introduced to Peter Brook, and I was so inspired by the ethos behind his work. Reading Peter Brook and the Mahabharata: Critical Perspectives helped me to get a grasp on what it is that I love about theatre; why I love acting, why I love writing, why I love helping people to make theatre, and why I love working at Shakespeare’s Globe.
I have worked for many years, delivering hundreds upon hundreds of tours, describing this iconic, weighty building and the magic within its walls. I am constantly amazed by my stamina and ability to keep telling the Globe’s story (and intrinsically, my own story) over and over again. Somehow, the energy of the moment, the faces in front of me and their wonderful invitation to share gets me going every time.
I have a belief about the magic of theatre and the magic of Shakespeare’s Globe and I have experienced this magic in multiple ways, on and off stage - and there is a little dusting of it on the tours.
The reason theatre is different to many other art forms is because it is live, because you are occupying the same space, because there are real tangible humans in front of you and because when it’s right – that’s it and then it’s gone. This is the most amazing feeling and, to me, the most rewarding art.
I prance around, flinging my limbs and my voice about, attempting to do a one woman version of something like this, trying to suggest a tiny iota of this magic, on the tours. Peter Brook describes a communication of the “direct physical conviction of the actors, their presence and individuality” and, to me, Shakespeare’s Globe is the home of this communication.
The shared space opens up an immediacy and shared language like nothing I’ve ever witnessed before. When Titus Andronicus parades into the theatre on ‘horseback’ showcasing his spoils of war, when Marc Anthony looks into people’s eyes and pleads to be heard, when Lancelot Gobbo enlists the help of an audience member to make a decision and when the shrewish Kate drags herself through the crowd after being starved to a point of insanity. These things make you think, make you laugh, make you be.
With a new season of plays approaching, I wait with bated breath to stand in the yard and meet the next companies of actors, the next array of characters and the next assortment of stories. I can’t wait to tell people what personality these shows bepaint. And I can’t wait to tell them that they must come and see it for themselves, for their role as the audience is the special ingredient to making the witches brew.
I tell people that putting Shakespeare’s plays in the original environment (or as close to it as possible) allows us to not only relive history but palpably feel the effects of Shakespeare’s plays that were intended. Peter Brook investigated the basic-ness of being human and presented theatre in its most crude form. And, I believe, that it is this element that the Globe drags out of Shakespeare’s plays, which is perhaps unexpected to an audience with anticipations of difficult language and highbrow chortling. The Globe has the beauty of the here and now. I cannot wait to be there, here and now, when this summer rolls around.
Read more about Guided Tours & Exhibition
Words: Ffion Jones
Sources: Williams, D. (1991) Peter Brook and the Mahabharata: Critical Perspectives, London: Routledge
Photos: John Wildgoose and Shakespeare’s Globe
Dear Friends,
Yesterday our two-week priority booking period for the 2018 Summer Season opened for Globe Friends. We received unprecedented demand for tickets to our new season.
Whilst we are delighted with the interest taken in our upcoming season, we would like to sincerely apologise to all our Friends old and new, who were unable to successfully book online yesterday.
Our ticketing system ran at capacity all day and we acknowledge that many of you were unable to book your tickets as only a certain number of people can do so at one time. As web traffic decreases over the next two weeks, you will all be able to log in and access tickets. Please be assured that we have plenty of tickets available for our Friends throughout this two week priority booking period. In recognition of increased online ticket bookings, we are currently working on a complete overhaul of our ticketing set up, due for release in April 2018.
We appreciate that this will do little to comfort those who were left frustrated yesterday, and must ask for your patience at this time. We value our Friends and all our audiences who endeavour to visit us throughout the year.
We understand your frustration and are committed to providing you with the best possible online experience in the future.
Priority booking will remain open until 28 January and we look forward to welcoming you to the Globe in 2018.
Yours sincerely,
Shakespeare’s Globe
All’s Well That Ends Well plays in the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse until Saturday 3 March 2018. Photography by Marc Brenner.
In 2018, we’ve entered an exciting new phase. Our new summer season was announced earlier this month, along with a new visual identity.
In this Q&A, meet Artistic Director Designate Michelle Terry ahead of her first season at Shakespeare’s Globe, which kicks off this April with Hamlet and As You Like It.
What is your first memory of Shakespeare’s Globe?
Queuing for Twelfth Night on a warm Sunday in 2002. I bought a tub of mixed nuts and a pint of beer and stood in the yard on my own and couldn’t believe what I was watching. The most permissive, empowering, autonomous experience I have ever had in a theatre.
Do you have a favourite memory in this building?
Playing the Princess of France in Love’s Labour’s Lost in 2009, I was sitting on a walkway that came out into the yard, facing the stage when I felt a tug on my corset string. I turned my head and a man said, “I’m terribly sorry, your majesty. Your corset has come undone”. It was the most sublime moment where logic and myth came together. It was totally logical to this man that he should save me from an embarrassment, but simultaneously he was immersed enough in the myth and the story to call me “your majesty”! Pure Globe.
Photo: Love’s Labour’s Lost, directed by Dominic Dromgoole, 2009
Why did you want to work at Shakespeare’s Globe?
It’s the most theatrical space I know and where Shakespeare makes the most sense to me.
Pictured: ‘And let us… on your imaginary forces work’ (Henry V) - part of our new cause statement
What’s the best thing about your job?
No matter how hard things get, the bottom line is that we all get to work on these incredible plays in these incredible spaces and share them with an audience in the most sensorial and experiential way. It’s extraordinary.
What are your hopes and dreams for the future of Shakespeare’s Globe?
That we continue to delight audiences, from the eight year old to the eighty-nine year old, with these plays in these unique playhouses, and continue to surprise and inspire the passionate aficionados and the newcomer alike.
Photos of Michelle Terry by Sarah Lee
What are you most proud of?
To be a part of the history of the journey of this extraordinary building.
Do you have a favourite Shakespeare quote?
‘Our doubts are traitors and make us lose the good we oft might win by fearing to attempt.’ (Measure for Measure)
Favourite Shakespeare play?
All of them!
Photo: Pete Le May
What would your 90 year old self say to you now?
Keep going. It matters.
If you could describe Shakespeare’s Globe in one word, what would it be?
Vital. Alive. Wonder-Full… nope, sorry, one word is not enough.
Shakespeare’s Globe Summer Season 2018 goes on sale to the public on 29 January, but you can support us as a Friend to receive priority booking.
In this new series of blogs, we’re going to take you behind the scenes of our Guided Tours & Exhibition. Open all year round, the tour gives you an opportunity to learn more about this unique building and its most famous playwright, Shakespeare.
In our first blog post last week, Ffion explored the magic of sharing theatre experiences and in today’s blog, Nicola Pollard talks about the training involved in becoming a guide at one of the world’s most interesting theatre venues.
We’re sometimes asked how we come to be a Tour Guide at Shakespeare’s Globe, so I thought I’d give you a little insight!
There are a fair number of us, around 45 or so. Some work more regularly than others, it’s a flexible contract so we can fit this around other work. A number of our team are tour guides at other attractions and locations, like the Houses of Parliament or St Paul’s Cathedral. Others are involved in the theatre industry as actors or directors, or are retired from a wide range of professions, or have recently graduated and are working out what they want to do with life! What unites us all is a love of the Globe and a desire to share that with you.
Once through the interview stage, every new guide gets five days of training. Mine was all in one week, and I like to refer to it as the ‘intensive version’ (or crash course!). The first couple of days are all about absorbing the nature of the job, shadowing other guides on their tours, picking up hints and tips and wading through the epic manual. We are assigned a mentor - a wise and experienced guide - who is on hand to answer any questions and show us the ropes. The mentor also helps us shape and structure our tours, listens to us stumble through numerous versions and then (hopefully) deems us ready for a final test.
Each tour we give must include basic information about the Globe, such as when and how it was built, Sam Wanamaker’s vision, playing styles then and now. But after that, we can pepper our tours with whatever information we feel fits, as long as it’s accurate, interesting and enjoyable for our audience!
The final test is taken with real, live, unsuspecting members of the public. We’re given the first tour of the day, usually about 15 to 20 people, followed (literally) by our Line Manager, Chris, and another experienced guide or member of the Exhibition department, complete with their clipboards and check-lists. Let’s be honest, I’ve had more relaxing hours in my life. You’ve rehearsed it, practiced it at home, practiced it around the Globe, said it yourself and said it out loud (probably shouldn’t have done the latter on the train).
Luckily, I had a really friendly group for my test and after waving the crowd away at the end, I turned to my assessors. This is not unlike that moment at the end of a driving test when you wait to see if they’re going to fill in the special form, or look at you with a disappointed expression. I passed!
If you don’t get it right first time, you’re given the chance to look over the feedback and try again. After passing, you’re offered a contract as a Globe Tour Guide, given a shiny new ID card complete with (in my case) awful photo and voila, you’re part of the team.
For my first few weeks (ahem, months) I found I was always learning something new. I learnt how to adapt a tour to a group of exhausted Spanish students who were coming to the end of a tiring week in London. I learnt how to best show around a group with mobility issues. I learnt new terms. I learnt the location of Middle Gallery Bay L.
I like this place, and willing could waste my time in it. So, come and while away your time with us. Whether we’ve been here five months or five years, we’re more than happy to take you round.
Read more about Guided Tours & Exhibition
Words: Nicola Pollard
Photos: John Wildgoose and Shakespeare’s Globe
Rehearsals are underway for Playing Shakespeare 2018 with Deutsche Bank.
This version of Much Ado About Nothing is created for those new to Shakespeare, young people, families and schools.
Performances start on 23 February.
Photography by Cesare de Giglio
