Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre Guided Tour

Built in 1599, a turbulent past saw the Globe destroyed by fire in 1613. It was rebuilt on the same site a year later and then demolished by Puritans in 1642, who feared the theatre was an ungodly place that lured people away from the church. 

Rebuilt and reopened in 1997, approximately 230 metres from the original site, is the Globe that stands today. It was a project founded by the actor Sam Wanamaker, father to actress Zoe Wanamaker, who played Madam Hooch in the Harry Potter films. 

With expert guide-storytellers, discover the famous Globe Theatre auditorium and get a sense of what inspired Shakespeare to write some of his most famous plays. The guides will also recreate stories so you can picture what an Elizabethan theatre-going crowd would have been like. Raucous taverns selling ale and brothels would have lined the streets, and most theatre goers in the cheap standing tickets could be found in the ale houses before a show — a far cry from the civilised Shakespearean crowds we see today.

Your 50-minute experience will also explore how the ‘wooden O’ and candlelit Sam Wanamaker Playhouse work today.