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Shakespeare's Globe

Theatre | Shakespeare
South Bank
Recommended

Tuesday 17 September 2024

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Written by Alex Sims

Contributing Writer and Editor

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Time Out says

What is it?

Built in 1599 and destroyed by fire in 1613, the original Globe Theatre was at the heart of London’s seedy entertainment district in William Shakespeare’s time. Here, productions were put on by the Lord Chamberlain’s Men, who included in their company old Bill himself. Although the theatre was rebuilt after the fire, it was eventually torn down in 1644, and as London’s entertainment centre moved west, this stretch of South Bank between Blackfriars and London Bridge was all but forgotten for generations.

Fast forward to 1997, when, following a decades-long campaign run by the late American actor Sam Wanamaker, the Globe was recreated near its original site. They used as much historical detail as could be found when designing the building in order to provide an authentic, Shakespearean experience with plays presented as close as possible to the kind of setting and conditions The Bard would have written for.

Compared to the seventeenth century version of the theatre, the modern day Shakespeare’s Globe only holds about half the capacity, but theatre-goers can still get a rich feel for what it was like to be a ‘groundling’ (the standing rabble at the front of the stage) in the circular, open-air theatre. The Globe Exhibition and Tour is open all year round and explores the life and work of Shakespeare and theatre in his time.

Why go?

Step into the shoes of an Elizabethan Londoner in this lovingly recreated theatre.

Don’t miss:

A visit here isn’t just a history lesson. The theatre productions are among the best in London. Each season (spring to early autumn) includes several Shakespeare classics, performed by a company of established and upcoming actors, while works of other writers are also programmed. You can also see performances in the candlelit Jacobean indoor theatre: Sam Wanamaker Playhouse. Artistically, there’s a commitment to the Bard, but within that it’s one of London’s liveliest and occasionally most controversial theatres. The current artistic director is Michelle Terry, who has focused her efforts on diversity and actor-friendliness.

When to visit:

Daily 10am–4pm. Peak times at weekends.

Ticketing info:

Exhibition and tour £27, under 16s £20.

Time Out tip:

If you’re heading to the theatre for the tour why not stay to watch a play when the season’s in full swing? It’s simple and easy to queue for £5 standing tickets on the day of the performance, I’ve done it many times and never missed out on bagging a place. Standing for a three-hour-long Shakespeare play may seem daunting, but the atmosphere is unbeatable and in the thick of the action, the time goes by swiftly.

Find top theatre shows in London and discover our guide to the very best things to do in London.

Details

Address: 21; New Globe Walk; Bankside; London; SE1 9DT

Transport:: Tube: Blackfriars/Mansion House/London Bridge

Opening hours:: Globe Exhibition and Tour daily 10am–4pm. Closed Dec 24 and 25. (Check in advance for dates when the tour is not available.)

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What’s on

The Tempest

As a schoolchild in the late ‘90s I swear to god I saw a production of The Tempest – I think at Malvern Theatre – that mostly consisted of Prospero and his villainous brother Antonio playing chess together, while the rest of the play kind of happened around them. It was so weird that I now occasionally doubt it actually happened. But also I’m pretty sure it did as I remember it so clearly. And Tim Crouch’s new production of The Tempest brought it to mind: I think it might baffle a lot of people, but I doubt any of them will forget it in a hurry. We’re in a junk-cluttered study of some sort, presumably on the nameless island that Crouch’s Prospero and his daughter Miranda (Sophie Steer) were exiled to by his sister Antonia (a gender swap, obvs). Their unearthly servants Caliban and Ariel are there too, though whether there’s anything supernatural about them is questionable: Naomi Wirthner’s Ariel is a colourfully dressed older lady with NHS specs and a penchant for knitting; Faizal Abdullah’s Caliban is an affable guy in a Gascoigne shirt who occasionally drifts into passages of Malay. They appear to be acting out The Tempest. That is to say, they’re using objects in the study to recreate the usual start of the play, which follows Antonia’s ship as it wrecks during the titular storm. Everyone is going through their lines with varying degrees of enthusiasm: Steer’s deliciously gauche Miranda flings herself in with total abandon; Ariel and Caliban seem benignly happy to go...

Shakespeare
Until 12 Apr 2026

Deep Azure

There were more strings to the late, great Chadwick Boseman’s bow than playing Black Panther, and one of the lesser known ones is that pre acting stardom he wrote several plays, the most prominent – and last – of which was 2005’s Deep Azure. A verse drama, it follows Azure, a young Black woman with an eating disorder as she tried to come to terms with the death of her fiance deep in an act of Black on Black violence. By far the. most successful of Boseman’s plays, it atracted considerable critical attention in the US but this production from Tristan Fynn-Aiduenu marks its UK debut. Selina Jones and Jayden Elijah head the cast as Azure and Deep respectively.

Drama
7 Feb11 Apr 2026

Romeo and Juliet

As is now traditional at Shakespeare’s Globe, its outdoor programming gets underway with a truncated pre-season ‘Playing Shakespeare’ play aimed at schoolkids, but very much open to members of the public who are up for open-air theatre in March. This year it’s Romeo and Juliet that gets the 90-minute treatment, directed by the Globe’s director of education Lucy Cuthbertson, in a return of the 2024 production that relocates the tale of the feuding Montagues and Capulets to contemporary gang culture.

Shakespeare
5 Mar11 Apr 2026

A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Even by the standards of what is surely the most staged English language play in history, the Globe is conceivably setting a new record by mounting two productions of A Midsummer Night’s Dream within three months of each other. Still, as is the way with this most flexible of plays, thety should be pretty DIFFERENT to each other. While the indoor production that wrapped up at the end of January in the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse was almost bizarrely bleak, this one sounds like the exact opposite, being billed as ‘a joyful, family-friendly night of mischief, wonder and transformation under starry, summer skies’. It’s being directed by Emily Lim, whose work tends to revolve around large scale community theatre projects, so she’s an intriguing choice to open the theatre’s outdoor summer season. Casting is currently TBA.

Shakespeare
23 Apr29 Aug 2026

Mother Courage and Her Children

Artistic director Michelle Terry’s new thing for Globe summer seasons seem to be giving one slot over to a classic twentieth century play and let them have fun in the Elizabethan playhouse’s big, uncoventional space. Last year it was Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, and this year it’ll be young Bertold Brecht’s turn to make his debut as Elle While directs his 1939 anti-war classic Mother Courage and Her Children. Terry herself will takre on the eponymous role of war profiteer Mother Courage, whose children are gradually killed off by the conflicts she herself profits from. All other casting is TBC.

Drama
7 May27 Jun 2026

Much Ado About Nothing

Chelsea Walker directed an extremely fun version of Shakespeare’s little loved All’s Well That Ends Well, dragging a dated and misogynist text into contemporary funnyness by force of will alone. So she should have a ball with established crowdpleaser Much Ado About Nothing, the immortal comedy about bickering lovers Benedick and Beatrice (that also has a fair few problematic elements for her to get her teeth into). Despite the extremely specific looking poster there is offically no casting yet.

Shakespeare
11 Jun24 Oct 2026

Love’s Labour’s Lost

Love’s Labour’s Lost belongs to that club of rarely peformed Shakespeare plays where the name is more famous than the acxtual story. This summer, though, it gets its biggest Globe – and indeed, London – production in over 20 years, with a lavish revival headed up by director Indiana Lown-Collins. We don’t know a lot about casting, but we do know that the cast is being put through a flamenco bootcamp, the better to take on this Spain-set drama about four lords who forswear women in order to better focus on their studies and general manliness – but things are complicated when for hot women arrive in court on a diplomatic mission.

Shakespeare
17 Jul13 Sept 2026

A World Elsewhere

This new family drama comes from the team behind previous Globe summer shows Rough Magic and Midsummer Mechanicals, Again written by Kerry Frampton and Ben Hales, it’s the first in the series to not be a riff on a specific Shakespeare play. Rather, it follows Cass, a young boy whose childhood has been filled with adventures inspired by his grandmother’s love of Shakespeare. But he’s losing interest – can he find it again. Directed by Lucy Cuthertson, it’s aimed at ages five plus.

Children's
25 Jul30 Aug 2026

As You Like It

The Globe’s 2026 summer season is pretty heavy on the old crowd pleasers, but we’d put a small amount of money on the likelihood that this production of the beloved As You Like It will be something a little weirder than the usual. Clue one: it’s not on for that long. Clue two: it’s directed by Globe deputy Sean Holmes and playwright Charlie Joseph, who also stars in the role of Orlando. Maybe not screeching avant-garde, but expect and arch and probably somewhat queer version from the long-term collaborators. Lola Shalam will co-star as Rosalind in the production of the forest-set romcom.

Shakespeare
14 Aug25 Oct 2026