Hell & Damnation exhibition.
Hell hath no limits…
Complementing our new productions of Macbeth and Doctor Faustus in the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse this winter, a new exhibition. Hell & Damnation explores early-modern audiences’ beliefs and fears about Hell, ghosts and the occult; how these beliefs were reflected on stage; and how abominable special effects are staged in the theatre. Drawing upon the Globe’s props store and photographs of our past productions, this temporary exhibition, situated within the Globe’s permanent Exhibition, is included in admission to our guided theatre tours until 31 March 2019.
On 8 December 2018, a one-day symposium, Perdition Catch My Soul: Shakespeare, Hell and Damnation, will examine the dramatization of early-modern philosophies of hell and damnation. We will ask how Renaissance drama explored the hazards of judgment, damnation, and perdition. What did playwrights think it meant to sell one’s soul to the devil? What was their definition of sin? What role did the devil play in the theatre – and in people’s everyday lives?
Photography Pete Le May