2.5 A Return to the "Real" Globe

An unbearably hot noon in the middle of May inside the top floor of a Victorian warehouse in Southwark, and the battle of Agincourt is about to begin.
Dr. Pauline Kiernan, 1997

The spring of 1997 saw the return of the Globe Theatre to the south bank of the Thames. Though many would argue that there is no such thing as a "real Globe" anymore, this is the closest thing to it. The fruition of a dream, the creation of a new Globe was the mission of American actor Sam Wanamaker. It began many years before, with a simple but disappointing pilgrimage of sorts to the original location of the Globe, and culminated with the presentation of Henry V. Directed by Richard Olivier, it was a functioning theatre modeled on the original Globe, and located no more than a few blocks away on the riverbank. But this was not merely the opening of a play, it was the culmination of a two-week celebration. It was the deliverance of an Elizabethan play performed in an Elizabethan theatre. But most importantly, it was a tremendous occasion that will be revisited with each subsequent production, because it signified the end of a 400-year span without such an experience, and the beginning of a new era in the history of the Globe Theatre.