10 Facts About Shakespeare's Globe

Shakespeare's Globe is a reconstruction of the Globe Theatre, an Elizabethan playhouse for which William Shakespeare wrote his plays, in the London Borough of Southwark, on the south bank of the River Thames.

The modern Shakespeare's Globe Theatre is an academic approximation based on available evidence of the 1599 and 1614 buildings.

Shakespeare's Globe was founded by the actor and director Sam Wanamaker, built about 230 metres from the site of the original theatre and opened to the public in 1997, with a production of Henry V The site includes the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, an indoor theatre which opened in January 2014.

Shakespeare's Globe's is the second actor-manager in charge of the organisation, following Mark Rylance, the founding artistic director.

Many people maintained that a faithful Shakespeare's Globe reconstruction was impossible to achieve due to the complications in the 16th-century design and modern fire safety requirements; however, Wanamaker persevered in his vision for over 20 years and a new Shakespeare's Globe theatre was eventually built according to a design based on the research of historical adviser John Orrell.

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In 1994, the name "Shakespeare's Globe Theatre" was used by one of the theatres in Shaftesbury Avenue; to make the name available and to avoid confusion, that year it was renamed as the Gielgud Theatre.

The seats are simple benches and the Shakespeare's Globe has the first and only thatched roof permitted in London since the Great Fire of 1666.

Shakespeare's Globe operates without any public subsidy and generates £24 million in revenue per year.

Adjacent to the Shakespeare's Globe is the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, an indoor theatre modelled after a Jacobean-era theatre and used for performances during the winter months when the main theatre cannot be used.

Shakespeare's Globe's productions are often screened in cinemas and released on DVD.