Towards the end of 1971, Wanamaker became aware of a parcel of land that was available in the area on which he was interested in building. While there was not enough land to build a theatre, this would give him a chance to set permanent roots in Southwark. The land should have been purchased by the Globe Playhouse Trust, but there was no money to do so, and thus it was bought with Wanamaker's own money. In order to secure the land, Wanamaker sold his own home and moved his family to Southwark as well. With both his new home, and his company in Southwark, he was now firmly entrenched as a member of the community.
Wanamaker set up a lease with the Playhouse Trust, including a very generous purchase option for the land. Written into the agreement was a stipulation that if the land was ever sold to a third party, it could only be done if the party agreed to provide an area for a Globe theatre and Museum. Thus, the small parcel of land was safe from the clutches of a developer trying to buy out an entire section of Bankside. As it happened, the Trust couldn't afford to exercise the purchase option when the time came, and instead, Wanamaker entered into a different deal with Chestergroove Properties Ltd. Fortunately, Chestergroove had no real initiative to develop the Bankside area, and agreed to keep the stipulation in place.
In September, 1971, Wanamaker had set up the World Centre for Shakespeare Studies (WCSS) in order to authenticate the project's educational credentials, and in December, Wanamaker was granted permission to turn his site into a public arts centre. Beginning in 1972, a series of events were run in order to increase public awareness and support for the Globe project. Initially, money came in quite fluidly. However, bad weather and mixed reviews of early events lead to the season ending in debt. Once again, Wanamaker would have to cover the project's expenses with his own money. Even so, the season was a success for the awareness it created as well as the fact that it prompted the city of Southwark to give Wanamaker permission (and funding) to set up a permanent museum and theatre.
The Globe museum started small, run solely by Wanamaker and his wife, Charlotte. It featured monthly exhibitions and a small temporary theatre in which summer performances were given in an attempt to raise more money for the Globe project. The summer of 1973 saw an elaborate production of Antony and Cleopatra, directed by Tony Richardson and starring Vanessa Redgrave. Yet, once again, the season was a bust, and the Playhouse Trust had to be dissolved in order to avoid the 50,000 pounds of debt it had procured. Wanamaker forged on, and held a smaller series of events in 1974, and, in 1975, Michael Cleary offered to build a new temporary theatre for very little money. However, the 1975 season again lost money, and in 1976, no events were held. In 1977, government cut backs cost Wanamaker to lose even more. Now he would not even receive the 37,500 pounds of government support that he had come to count on. The museum itself was in jeopardy. In 1978, Wanamaker was working on a deal to extend his museum onto an adjacent property. Though the deal was never signed, Wanamaker moved anyway, averting the need to close down.
In 1976, the 2nd Shakespeare Congress met in Washington D.C. and endorsed the verdict made in Vancouver at the 1st Congress. However, when the 3rd congress met in 1981 in Stratford-upon-Avon, the project was not endorsed. Several possible reasons exist for the reversal of this decision including the threat of possible competition that a Globe would give to Stratford, and the circumstances of C. Walter Hodges leaving the project. However, in a rare twist of fate, the project's loss of C. Walter Hodges led to the gain of another scholar, John Orrell, who would come to join Sam Wanamaker's team after learning about Wanamaker's efforts at the Wayne State University Conference which Hodges joined after leaving. Orrell would become a prominent figure in the design of the new Globe, and would also represent the Globe at the 4th World Shakespeare Conference.
|
 |
|
| Lesson 4.3 |
|
Lesson 4.5 |