 The Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, the Globe's replica Jacobean theatre | |
 Interactive map of Sam Wanamaker Playhouse | |
| Location | Southwark London,SE1 United Kingdom |
|---|---|
| Public transit |   London Bridge |
| Owner | The Shakespeare Globe Trust |
| Construction | |
| Opened | 2014; 11 years ago (2014) |
| Architect | Pentagram (shell); Jon Greenfield, in collaboration with Allies and Morrison |
| Website | |
| ShakespearesGlobe.com | |
TheSam Wanamaker Playhouse is an indoor theatre forming part of theShakespeare's Globe complex, along with the recreatedGlobe Theatre onBankside inSouthwark, London. Built by making use of 17th-century plans for an indoor English theatre, the playhouse recalls the layout and style of theBlackfriars Theatre (which also existed in Shakespeare's time), although it is not an exact reconstruction. Unlike the Globe, the original Blackfriars was not in Southwark but rather across the river.
The shell of the playhouse was built during the construction of the Globe complex in the 1990s. The smaller unfinished building was used as a space for education workshops and rehearsals until enough money was raised to complete its true-to-the-period interior. It opened for public performances in January 2014, named after actorSam Wanamaker, the leading figure in the Globe's reconstruction.
The shell was intended to house asimulacrum of the sixteenth-centuryBlackfriars Theatre from the opposite side of the Thames,[1] adapted as a playhouse in 1596 during Elizabeth's reign. TheLord Chamberlain's Men, Shakespeare's playing company, began to use it in 1608, five years into theJacobean era.[2]
As no reliable plans of the Blackfriars Theatre are known, the plan for the new theatre was based on drawings found in the 1960s atWorcester College, Oxford, at first thought to date from the early 17th century,[3] and to be the work ofInigo Jones. The shell was built to accommodate a theatre as specified by the drawings, and the planned name was the Inigo Jones Theatre.[4] In 2005, the drawings were dated to 1660 and attributed toJohn Webb.[3] They nevertheless represent the earliest known plan for an English theatre, and are thought to approximate the layout of the Blackfriars Theatre.[1] Some features believed to be typical of earlier in the 17th century were added to the new theatre's design.[3]
The shell was initially used as a rehearsal space, and for education projects.[1] On 24 February 2012 it was announced that the new theatre would be named the Sam Wanamaker Theatre, after the founder of the Shakespeare Globe Trust, and work on it would commence in October that year. It was also announced that the total cost would be £7 million, and that an anonymous donor had pledged £1 for every £1 the theatre itself raised, up to a maximum of £3 million.[5]
The theatre was completed at a cost of £7.5 million.[6] Designed by Jon Greenfield, in collaboration withAllies and Morrison, it is an oak structure built inside the building's brick shell.[7] The thrust stage is surmounted by amusicians' gallery, and the theatre has an ornately painted ceiling. The seating capacity is 340, with benches in a pit and two horse-shoe galleries,[6] placing the audience close to the actors.[8] Shutters around the first gallery admit artificial daylight. When the shutters are closed, lighting is provided bybeeswax candles mounted insconces, as well as on six height-adjustablechandeliers and even held by the actors.[6] The design incorporated extensive fire precautions.[7]
Under the slightly revised name of the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, the theatre's opening two productions were of plays first performed at the original Blackfriars Theatre:The Duchess of Malfi opened on 15 January 2014 and this was followed by the comedyThe Knight of the Burning Pestle.[6][9] In the winter 2015–16 seasonShakespeare's four late tragicomic plays –Pericles,Cymbeline,The Winter's Tale andThe Tempest – were staged.[10]
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