Sam Wanamaker Playhouse

Sam Wanamaker’s vision was that the Globe would have both an outdoor theatre and an indoor playhouse. However, the red brick shell originally designated for the indoor theatre was used for education workshops and rehearsals until the Globe opened its dedicated education and rehearsal centre, the Sackler Studios, in 2010. This enabled work on an indoor Jacobean playhouse theatre to begin. The design of the theatre was influenced by two 17th century drawings of a late Elizabethan/Jacobean theatre, believed to be by John Webb (1611 – 24 October 1672), a protege of Inigo Jones. It was constructed using Jacobean methods and materials. The auditorium is reached through the existing, enlarged foyer. It has a green oak frame which is decoratively carved and features gold leaf decoration. The seating consists of cushioned benches. There are two levels of facetted gallery seating, one at stage level and one at the level of the musicians’ gallery, which reach round the edge of the auditorium to enable the audience to sit to either side of the stage. The galleries are supported on slim oak columns. There is also a sunken pit area with removable facetted benches which result in those sat closest to the stage facing each other across a central aisle, side on to the stage. The audience can also sit in the musicians’ gallery above and behind the stage. At the back of the small stage there is a panelled wall containing doors to the tiring house behind. There is no fly tower or wing space. The ceiling is ornately painted with a mythological scene based on that of a room (destroyed by fire in the 1980s) in Cullen House in Scotland. Lighting is provided by candles and/or by opening shutters behind the gallery seating to let in light from the corridors outside. This intimate indoor space means that the Globe can now stage performances all year round. It also acts as a place of experiment for those wanting to undertake research into Jacobean performance and stagecraft.