ENGLISH LITERATURE (CBSE/UGC NET)

Detailed explanation-1: -by Elise Warner. A crowd of twentieth century “groundlings” stands in the open yard of the new Globe Theatre in Bankside, London. Admission is £5.00; in the early 1600’s, at the first Globe Theatre, Shakespeare’s “Wooden O, ” groundlings (commoners) paid one English penny.

Detailed explanation-2: -Shakespeare called his theatre a ‘wooden O’ and like his historic playhouse our Globe Theatre is a 360° auditorium. With no roof over the central yard, the theatre is open-air and audiences who attend performances and tours are told to dress for the weather!

Detailed explanation-3: -’This wooden O’ is a quotation from Shakespeare’s Henry V, a reference to the shape of the Globe playhouse itself: a round theatre constructed out of oak.

Detailed explanation-4: -The Globe, which opened in 1599, became the playhouse where audiences first saw some of Shakespeare’s best-known plays. In 1613, it burned to the ground when the roof caught fire during a performance of Shakespeare’s Henry VIII. A new, second Globe was quickly built on the same site, opening in 1614.

Detailed explanation-5: -In 1576 he had built the first successful amphitheatre, known as The Theatre, in a London suburb. Twenty years later, when the lease on The Theatre’s land was about to expire, he built the theatre in Blackfriars as its replacement.