Задание

Match the texts with their headings.

Historic timeline

Old and New Works

Authentic Traditional Construction

Amenities for the Audience

Richly Decorated

Shakespeare's Globe Theatre has been recreated on the south bank of the River Thames in London.

The theatre is only a short distance from the site of the original Globe Theatre built in 1599, where many of Shakespeare's plays were first produced in the reign of Elizabeth I.

The Globe was burnt down in 1613 during a performance of Henry VIII, when a cannon being used as a prop in the attic, fired an ember into the thatched roof of the theatre. The Globe was rapidly rebuilt – only this time, with a tiled roof. But it lasted till 1644, when it was demolished after the Puritans closed England's theatres on the religious background.

Shakespeare's Globe is the third largest theatre in London, with a seating capacity of 800. Today's Globe Theatre, is home to productions of the works of Shakespeare and his contemporaries.

Established directors and actors, together with younger members of the theatre world, combine their experience and training to produce performances of excellence in conditions reproducing those of Shakespeare's time.

The Globe also commissions new works from today's playwrights.

The new Globe has been recreated using the methods and materials used in the time of Shakespeare. The overall shape of the theatre is like a large 'O', built in the round as was the first Globe. The gates created by Richard Quinnell depict animals, birds and plants mentioned in Shakespeare's works.

The exterior of the theatre is a Tudor style rather austere half framed building, with a thatched roof covering the galleries and stage, but leaving the central area, or Yard open. This is in fact, the first thatched roof to have been created in London since the great fire of London in 1666.

In Shakespeare's day, people (referred to as Groundlings) were charged 1 penny for entrance to the Yard, where they could move around and interact with the players, which you can still do today.

If it rained, they could pay a further penny to sit in one of the galleries, under cover of the thatched roof. Then, as is still the case, cushions could be hired to sit on.

The stage is raised five feet above the ground and is the jewel-like focus of the theatre. The floor is of bare boards, but the stage wall has the variety of trompe l'oeil paintings of statues, gods and planetary deities.

The gilding and sumptuous ornaments of the stage and its roof, known as the Heavens, portraying the sun, moon, stars and signs of the Zodiac, were created by using Renaissance techniques and pigments.