English Audio Request

The Globe Theatre was built on the River Thames in 1599. It was circular, that’s why it is also called the wooden “O”. It had seats around the walls which cost “tuppence” – two pence. And if you paid “thruppence” – three pence – you had a cushion, it was more comfortable. The theatre had no roof, as you can see if you look up. But the seats around the walls were protected, so people were able to watch the play without being wet if it was raining. However, here, in front of the stage, which is called the pit, the spectators were not protected from the rain, so places were cheaper: it was about a penny, but the people had to stand for the duration of the play. The people who stood in the pit to watch the plays were called “groundlings”, because they stood on the “ground”.

Watching plays at the time was very different from watching plays today. Indeed, when you go to the theatre, you’re supposed to be quiet, and well-be- haved. Well, in Shakespeare’s time, the spectators were asked to react to the play: cheer the actors if they liked the play or boo them if they didn’t! They could even throw rotten fruit at them. Also, plays were performed during the day because there was no electricity so they couldn’t light up the theatre at night.Some plays would involve musical elements – like the ball scene in Romeo and Juliet for example. That’s why there were boxes for musicians, right behind the stage.

But as you can imagine, there were no complicated special effects to make the plays exciting, as in fact Shakespeare didn’t need them: he used his words instead. His plays were so well-written that he could make the audience sad, happy, excited, or even terrified. Indeed, he used 18,000 words, much more than any other writer. He even completely invented 2,000 new words such as “eyeball” and “moonbeam”, for example. He was the first writer to really create words, so it is thanks to him that, today, the English language is so flexible!